TEN    YEARS 


MASSACHUSETTS. 


BY 

RAYMOND  L.  BRIDGMAN. 


BOSTON: 
D.  C.  HEATH  &  CO.,  Publishers. 

1888. 


Copyright,  1888. 
Bt  Eaymond  L.  Brhigman, 


CONTENTS. 


Page 
L— THE  COMMONWEALTH, 5 

IL— CONSTITUTIONAL  CHANGES,         ....        9 

III.—PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATION, 10 

Voting — School  Suffrage  for  Women — Police — The        ^* 
Judiciai-y — Business  Matters — Forests  and  Ponds 
— Commissions — The    Civil    Service — Race    Dis- 
tinctions— Towns — Defective  Classes. 

IV.— RELIGIOUS  ADVANCE, 41 

Congregational  Churches— Roman  Catholic  Churches 
— Instruction  in  Jails — Sunday  Law. 

v.— PUBLIC  MORALS, 45 

Betting  and  Gaming  —  Lotteries  —  Illustrations  of 
Crime  —  Opium  —  Children  at  Public  Shows  — 
Gambling  Dens — Divorces. 

VI.— EDUCATION, 50 

The  Poor  Towns  —  Private  Schools  —  School  Dis- 
tricts—  Evening  Schools  —  Physical  Exercises  — 
Free  Text-books — Industi'ial  Training — Teachers' 
Tenure  —  Ti'uancy  —  Clark  University  —  Illiterate 
Minors — Libraries  and  Reading  Rooms. 

VII.— SOCIETY 57 

Gifts  to  Wives — Divorce — Abandoned  Children — 
Tramps. 


4  CONTENTS. 

Page 
VUI.— LIFE  AND  HEALTH, 60 

Food  Adulteration  —  Water  —  Vinegar  —  Travelers — 
Fires  —  Contagious  Diseases  —  Self-injury  —  Chil- 
dren in  Shows — Cremation. 

LX.— LABOR  LEGISLATION, 72 

Factory  Laws  —  Weekly  Payments  —  Arbitration  — 
Employers'  Liability — Frogs  and  Switches — Wo- 
men and  Minors — Special  Stock — Convict  Labor 
— Labor  Day — Voting — Peoples'  Homes. 

X.— BUSINESS  DEVELOPMENT, 88 

State  Bonds — Savings  Banks — Co-operative  Banks — 
n  Railroads  —  Insurance  —  Loan   and   Trust   Com- 

panies —  Electricit  J- — Gas  —  Insolvency — Agricul- 
ture— Limited  Partnerships — Payments  by  Instal- 
ments— Checks. 

XL— TEMPERANCE  LEGISLATION,         .        .        .        .109 

Sixth-class  License  —  Liquor  Transportation  —  Civil 
Damage  Law — Punishment  for  Drunkenness — 
The  Screen  Law — Abuttor's  Objection — School- 
house  Law — Sureties — Sales  at  Night — Election 
Days — Sales  Forbidden  to  Certain  Persons — Tem- 
perance Text-books — Habitual  Drunkards — Pig- 
eon-holing Appealed  Cases — Cigarettes — Liquor 
Clubs — Riots — Common  Nuisance — Forfeiture  of 
License — Prima  Facie  Law — Druggists  and  Apoth- 
ecaries— Patent  Ballot  Boxes. 

XII.— THE  SUM  OF  IT  ALL, 120 


TEN  YEARS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 


THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

The  truth  that  the  state  has  not  advanced  beyond 
its  laws,  and  that  its  progress  is  to  be  seen  in  those 
laws  makes  the  study  of  them — and  of  the  intelligence, 
conscience  and  will  of  the  s'tate  as  seen  in  them — most 
helpful  in  understanding  the  state's  progress.  To  him 
who  has  the  vision  to  see  through  the  laws,  they  are 
more  thrilling  than  fiction,  for  they  touch  the  lives  of 
those  who  "  stand  out  and  take  the  thunder  and  light- 
ning" of  life's  poverty  and  calamities  as  well  as  of 
those  who  seek  by  the  laws  new  means  of  protecting 
themselves  in  the  acquirement  of  wealth. 

Every  general  law  is  an  attempt  to  deduce  from 
what  has  happened  (sometimes  in  only  a  few  instances) 
rules  to  govern  what  may  happen  again.  The  state's 
foresight  is  the  result  of  looking  backward.  It  locks 
the  stable  door  after  the  horse  has  been  stolen,  but 
because  so  many  other  horses  are  left.  Back  of  the 
laws  are  the  suffering  and  loss  on  which  they  rest, 
material  or  moral.     In  every  line  of  the  liquor  laws 


6  TEN   YEARS   OF   ISIASSACHUSETTS. 

lias  gone  the  costliest  human  experience,  and  into  the 
structure  of  the  new  employers'  liability  act  went  the 
tale  of  much  injustice  added  to  injury,  and  even  such 
horrors  as  that  of  the  brakeman,  knocked  from  his 
place  at  night  in  an  icy  cut  among  the  Berkshire  hills, 
who  was  "picked  up  in  baskets."  Tragedy  at  every 
point  is  behind  the  laws.  They  come  close  home  to 
the  people,  and  in  a  large  sense  there  is  nothing  that 
can  illustrate  the  progress  of  recent  years  like  the  laws 
enacted  during  that  time. 

The  life  of  Massachusetts  for  these  years  is  not  only 
a  concern  to  those  who  have  shared  it,  but  also  to 
those  who  are  to  shape  its  future,  for  they  can  act 
intelligently  only  as  they  are  familiar  with  its  past. 
That  hfe  will  be  of  interest,  either  by  example  or  by 
warning,  as  the  operations  of  its  laws  will  show,  to 
those  other  parts  of  the  Union  which  will  in  time  have 
her  density  and  variety  of  population  and  her  complex- 
ity of  industries. 

These  years  show  that  the  state  does  not  believe 
that  it  is  governed  too  much,  but  rather  that  the  state, 
like  an  intelligent  person,  does  all  that  it  can  to  pro- 
mote the  perfect  development  of  every  part  of  its 
organism.  Hence,  at  every  point  where  it  sees  that 
some  of  its  members  are  encroaching  upon  others  more 
than  is  for  the  good  of  the  whole,  there  it  interferes  to 
establish  justice  and  to  promote  prosperity.     The  state 


THE  COIVIMONWEALTH.  7 

is  continually  extending  its  sphere  of  action  and  shows 
no  sign  of  a  change  in  its  policy. 

In  the  state  is  more  than  is  in  any  individual  person. 
In  it  is  the  will,  the  choice  of  right  or  wrong,  and  the 
recognition  of  its  obligation  to  make  that  choice.  In 
it  is  the  prosperity  or  misfortune  of  each  individual 
part,  for  as  the  state  follows  the  course  which  gives  to 
each  part  full  freedom  to  develop  all  of  good  there  is 
in  it  and  represses  every  tendency  of  its  individual 
parts  to  injure  each  other,  so  will  it  attain  its  own 
highest  possibility  and  the  highest  possibility  of  each 
of  its  individuals.  In  the  state  is  the  common  sense 
of  all  its  parts  united.  Its  intelligence  is  the  sum  of 
the  experience  of  its  past,  as  comprehended  and  set 
in  the  form  of  the  present  by  its  several  parts.  Its 
will  is  the  will  of  a  majority  of  its  parts,  or  the  will  of 
the  few  impressed  by  their  strength  of  self-assertion 
upon  the  majority.  Its  laws  are  the  expression  of  its 
common  sense,  put  into  the  form  of  its  will,  and  show 
both  what  it  has  had  the  intelligence  to  perceive  and 
the  will  to  resolve  to  do. 

Beyond  the  will  of  the  state  the  community  has  not 
progressed,  whatever  may  be  true  of  individual  parts. 
Beyond  the  laws  of  the  state  the  community  knows 
nothing  in  that  sphere  where  knowledge  is  to  be  car- 
ried out  in  action.  Up  to  the  height  of  its  laws,  then, 
has  the  community  ascended  and  no  higher. 


8  TEN   YEAKS   OF   IklASSACHUSETTS. 

But  the  state  has  its  weakness.  Unworthy  methods 
are  combined  with  worthy.  Its  laws  are  made  by  a 
clash  of  interests  or  by  a  combination  of  good  and 
selfish  forces.  Hidden  influences  shape  the  making  of 
laws.  The  state  is  sometimes  deceived  by  those  who 
wish  to  secure  its  powerful  protection  for  their  schemes 
of  money-making  or  political  advancement.  It  is  cred- 
ulous when  its  confidence  has  not  been  betrayed.  It  is 
incredulous  of  merit,  when  once  it  has  been  deceived. 
It  is  slow  to  enact  justice.  It  lives  from  age  to  age, 
with  the  consciousness  that  its  existence  is  eternal.  It 
is  never  in  a  hurry.  It  has  no  fortune  to  make,  no 
goal  to  reach  within  a  given  time. 

In  the  following  pages  the  chief  lines  of  develop- 
ment within  ten  years  are  indicated.  During  those 
years  it  has  been  the  privilege  of  the  writer  to  be  fam- 
iliar with  the  legislation  of  the  Commonwealth  in  the 
process  of  formation  and  enactment,  and  he  writes  of 
those  things  only  which  came  under  his  personal  notice. 
No  attempt  is  made  to  trace  the  lines  which  are  com- 
paratively of  small  importance,  but  only  to  show  the 
most  salient  features  in  the  development  of  the  charac- 
ter of  this  person,  the  Commonweath  of  Massachusetts. 


CONSTITUTIONAL   CHANGES. 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CHANGES. 

Only  two  constitutional  amendments  have  been 
adopted  within  the  ten  years.  One,  adopted  in  1881, 
provides  that  citizens  of  the  state,  honorably  discharged 
from  the  army  or  the  navy  of  the  United  States 
after  service  in  time  of  war,  shall  not  be  disqualified 
from  voting  if  they  are  paupers.  It  marks  no  develop- 
ment of  the  state,  but  is  an  expression  of  gratitude  to 
the  defenders  of  the  Union,  a  gratitude  which  had 
already  been  liberally  shown.  The  other,  adopted  in 
1885,  empowers  the  legislature  to  establish  voting  pre- 
cincts in  towns.  Its  object  was  to  save  travel  and  to 
make  voting  more  general.  It  has  no  significance  as  a 
constitutional  development. 

It  remains,  then,  the  truth  that  the  foundations  of 
the  state  were  laid  so  broad  and  so  deep  that  they 
have  given  scope  for  all  the  growth  of  late  years  with- 
out requiring  a  change.  The  constitution  has  been 
preserved,  too,  it  should  be  noticed,  from  any  other 
function  than  a  general  statement  of  the  principles  by 
which  the  statutes  are  to  be  enacted.  The  distinction 
between  constitution  and  statute  has  not  been  obliter- 
ated, and  the  less  the  former  is  changed  the  sharper 
will  be  the  discrimination  between  the  two. 


10  TEN  YEAKS   OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 


PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATION. 

Voting — School  Suffrage  for  Women — Police — The  Judi- 
ciary— Business  Matters — Forests  and  Ponds — Commis- 
sions— The  Civil  Service — Race  Distinctions — Towns — 
Defective  Classes. 

During  the  ten  years  the  state  has  done  much  to 
secui'e  an  honest  expression  of  the  wiU  of  the  voters 
at  the  polls,  for  no  less  than  twenty  separate  statutes 
have  been  enacted  for  that  end.  By  the  latest,  added 
care  is  to  be  taken  in  the  registration  of  voters  by 
recording  the  christian  name,  initial  and  surname,  by 
giving  full  opportunity  for  registration,  and  by  exam- 
ination as  to  qualifications  (1878,  chapter  251),  so  that 
every  one  entitled  to  vote  may  be  easily  identified  and 
that  no  one  else  may  vote.  The  registrars  of  voters 
in  the  towns  and  cities  (1884,  c.  298)  are  to  be  the 
tovm  or  city  clerk  and  "  three  able  and  discreet  per- 
sons, qualified  voters,"  who  shall  hold  no  other  office 
or  position  under  the  local  government.  They  "  shall 
equally  represent  the  two  political  parties  which  cast 
the  largest  number  of  votes  in  the  Commonwealth  at 
the  annual  election  next  preceding  their  appointment, 
and  not  more  than  two  of  them  shall  be  of  the  same 


PUBLIC   ADMINISTRATION.  11 

political  party."  Any  voter  may  make  affidavit  that 
he  believes  the  registration  of  any  person  to  be  illegal, 
and  such  step  shall  be  sufficient  to  require  the  regis- 
trars to  re-examine  the  case.  If  the  registration  is 
illesral,  the  name  is  to  be  stricken  from  the  list.  A 
false  answer  to  the  registrars  is  punishable  by  a  ffiie 
of  thirty  dollars.  No  voter  can  be  registered  without 
the  concurrence  of  three  of  the  four  registrars.  The 
assessors  of  taxes  in  each  city,  by  July  15  each  year, 
must  have  street  lists  of  the  voting  precincts  prepared 
to  "show  the  names  of  all  persons  resident  in  each 
dwelling  and  assessed  for  poll  taxes." 

No  name  can  be  added  to  the  lists  of  voters  after 
posting,  unless  the  applicant  proves  his  claim  in  person 
before  the  registrars. 

In  1884  (c.  298)  was  made  a  full  revision  of  the  law 
for  registration,  in  which  detailed  provision  was  made 
to  prevent  fraud,  by  publicity,  by  careful  examination 
of  applicants,  and  by  giving  the  registrars  authority  to 
preserve  order  at  their  sessions.  Care  is  taken  to  give 
every  voter  his  rights,  but  to  allow  no  one  else  to  vote. 
On  petition  of  at  least  ten  qualified  voters,  a  super- 
visor from  each  of  the  two  leading  political  parties  may 
be  appointed  by  the  governor  to  attend  all  sessions  of 
the  board  of  registrars,  and  they  are  given  the  right  to 
take  action  for  the  purity  of  the  voting  lists.  Any 
registrar  refusing  or  wilfully  neglecting  to  require  an 


12  TEX   YEARS    OF   IVIASSACHUSETTS.      • 

applicant  for  registration  to  read  and  write  before 
registration  may  be  fined  five  hundred  doUars  or  Im- 
prisoned in  jail  one  year ;  and  any  registrar  who  wil- 
fully prevents  or  seeks  to  prevent  the  registration  of 
a  legal  voter,  or  who  registers  a  person  not  a  legal 
voter,  or  is  guilty  of  any  other  fraud,  shall  be  fined  not 
over  three  hundred  dollars.  Any  person  falsely  pro- 
curing his  registration,  or  falsely  representing  himself, 
or  assisting  in  such  act,  may  be "  punished  for  each 
offence  by  three  hundred  dollars'  fine  and  one  year's 
imprisonment.  In  1887  (c.  432)  provision  was  made 
for  removing  one  registrar,  if  necessary  in  order  to 
maintain  the  balance  between  the  parties. 

In  1884  (c.  299)  the  election  law  was  again  revised, 
and  detailed  restrictions  were  enacted  for  both  cities 
and  towns,  in  order  to  secure  an  honest  vote.  A  new 
feature  of  the  law  is  that  for  a  self-registering  ballot 
box.  The  boxes  register  and  cancel  every  ballot  wliich 
is  cast,  and  their  use  is  under  state  supervision  by  a 
board  appointed  for  the  purpose. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  ten  years,  as  had  been  the 
custom  previously,  ballots  were  of  any  form,  color  and 
marking  which  pleased  the  pohtical  parties  respec- 
tively, and  some  tickets  with  conspicuous  markings 
were  used,  so  that  it  was  perfectly  easy  to  tell  what 
ticket  a  man  voted.  JMuch  complaint  was  made  of 
this  in  the  years  when  "  bulldozing  "  was  charged  upon 


PUBLIC   ADJkHjSnSTHATIO]^.  13 

republican  manufacturers  and  upon  tlie  managers  of 

that  party,  wliicli  was  at  the  time  when  Gen.  Butler 

was   vigorously   but  xmsuccessfully   campaigning   for 

the    governorship,   and   a  law  was   enacted  in   1880 

(c.  92)  to  provide  for  uniform  ballots.     With  slight 

changes  it  was  re-enacted  in  1881  (c.  299),  and  stands 

as  follows : 

"  Sect.  27.  Xo  person  shall  jDrint  any  ballot  for  use  at  any 
election  for  the  choice  of  any  national,  state,  disti'ict,  county,  or 
municipal  officers,  or  shall  distribute  at  any  such  election  any 
printed  ballot  unless  such  ballots  are  of  plain  white  paper,  in 
weight  not  less  than  that  of  ordinary  printing  paper,  and  are  not 
more  than  five  nor  less  than  four  and  a  half  inches  in  width,  and 
not  more  than  thirteen  and  a  half  nor  less  than  twelve  inches  in 
lenoth,  and  unless  the  same  are  printed  with  black  ink  on  one 
side  of  the  paper  only,  and  contain  no  printing,  engi-aving,  device 
or  mark  of  any  kind  upon  the  back  thereof.  The  names  of  can- 
didates shall  be  printed  at  right  angles  with  the  length  of  the 
ballot,  in  capital  letters  not  less  than  one  eighth  nor  more  than 
one  quarter  of  an  inch  in  height :  provided,  however,  that  any 
ballot  containing  tlie  names  of  less  than  four  candidates  may  be 
not  more  and  shall  be  not  less  than  six  inches  in  length.  The 
name  of  any  person  appearing  upon  any  ballot  as  a  candidate  for 
any  office  shall  not  be  repeated  thereon  with  respect  to  the  same 
office.  Nothing  herein  contained  shall  authorize  the  refusal  to 
receive  or  count  any  ballot  for  any  want  of  conformity  with  the 
requirements  of  this  section." 

The  penalty  for  violating  this  section  may  be  one 
hundred  dollars'  fine  and  a  year's  imprisonment.  The 
penalty  for  illegal  voting,  by  the  same  chapter,  may 
be  three  hundred  dollars'  fine  or  a  year's  imprison- 
ment, and  for  altering  or  stealing  ballots  after  they 


14  TEN  YEARS   OF  MASSACHTJSETTS. 

have  been  cast  may  be  five  hundred  dollars'  fine  or 
three  years'  imprisonment. 

The  growing  temper  of  the  people  to  insist  upon 
good  order  at  elections  is  shown  in  the  following, 
(1881,  c.  273) : 

"During  any  town,  ward,  or  precinct  meeting,  or  any  meeting 
held  for  the  election  of  national,  state,  county,  city  or  town 
officers,  no  person  shall  smoke  or  have  in  his  possession  any 
lighted  pipe,  cigarette  or  cigar  in  any  town  hall,  ward  room,  pre- 
cinct room,  or  other  voting  place  where  any  such  meeting  shall 
be  held ;  and  no  person  shall  carry  into  any  of  such  places  of 
meeting  or  keep  therein  any  intoxicating  liquor." 

Violation  of  the  law  makes  the  offender  liable  to 
twenty  dollars'  fine,  and  to  be  removed  by  force  and 
kept  in  confinement  until  the  meeting  is  adjourned. 

In  order  to  prevent  the  counterfeiting  of  ballots,  of 
which  annoying  instances  formed  the  occasion  of  the 
law,  it  was  enacted  (1885,  c.  2-48)  that 

"The  i^resident,  secretary  and  treasm'er,  or  any  two  of  such 
officers,  of  any  political  committee  may  place  or  cause  to  be 
jilaced  upon  the  face  of  any  ballot  prepared  by  them  for  use  at 
any  election  a  j^rinted  certificate  signed  with  their  names  import- 
ing that  such  ballot  is  the  regular  and  genuine  ballot  of  the  polit- 
ical party  for  the  use  of  which  it  is  prepared," 

and  may  file  it  for  public  inspection  with  the  city  or 
town  clerk  seven  days  before  election,  with  notice  of 
its  intended  use. 

For  further  accuracy  in  the  votes  for  state  officers, 
congressmen,  state  senators  and  the  chief  county  of- 


PUBLIC   ADMINISTRATION.  15 

ficers,  a  law  was  passed  in  1882  (c.  28)  authorizing 
the  governor  and  council  to  order  new  copies  of  the 
records  ;  and,  for  the  sake  of  publicity,  it  was  also 
enacted  that  the  returns  of  the  votes  shall  be  published 
in  every  daily  paper  in  the  state  and  in  at  least  one 
paper  in  every  county  where  there  is  not  a  daily. 

Chapter  74  of  the  same  year  requires  the  check  list 
in  cities  to  be  kept  as  long  as  the  ballots  are  kept,  and 
chapter  260,  1882,  forbids  the  counting  of  detached 
"  stickers  "  as  ballots. 

Candidates  liable  to  be  affected  by  re-counts  of  votes 
are  to  be  notified  (1883,  c.  42)  of  the  time  and  place 
of  the  re-count. 

In  1885  was  passed  a  law  (c.  271)  to  enable  a  closer 
watch  to  be  kept  over  floating  voters  in  hotels  and 
boarding  houses  who  might  or  might  not  be  legal. 
Keepers  of  such  places,  as  well  as  the  masters  and 
mistresses  of  dwellings,  are  required  to  give  full  and 
true  information  of  the  names  of  all  persons  residing 
therein  liable  to  a  poll  tax,  under  heavy  penalties. 

In  the  same  year  was  enacted  a  law  (c.  345)  which 
was  stubbornly  fought  for  by  the  democratic  party  for 
several  years  in  order  to  make  it  more  convenient  for 
them  to  naturalize  their  voters.  It  extends  the  juris- 
diction over  naturalization  cases  to  all  courts  with  a 
seal  and  clerk  and  with  common-law  jurisdiction,  pro- 
vided that  the  applicants  are  within  the  jurisdiction  of 


16       '  TEN   YEARS   OF   ]MASSACHUSETTS. 

the  several  courts,  or  (1886,  c.  203)  if  not  in  the  juris- 
diction of  a  police,  district  or  municipal  court,  the 
person  may  go  to  the  coiu't  nearest  to  the  tovm  in 
which  he  resides.  The  law  was  well  guarded  to  pre- 
vent fraud,  and  its  leading  idea  was  to  make  it  easier 
for  poor  men  to  get  their  naturahzation  papers.  A 
section  of  the  law  prevented  naturahzed  persons  from 
being  registered  within  thirty  days  of  naturalization, 
but  this  was  declared  unconstitutional  by  the  supreme 
court  and  was  repealed  in  1887  (c.  329). 

Primary  declarations  of  aliens  to  become  citizens  of 
the  United  States  may  be  filed  (1886,  c.  45)  in  the 
supreme  judicial  court  and  in  the  superior  court  at 
any  time. 

Re-counts  of  votes  at  elections  held  in  towns  are 
permitted  (1886,  c.  262)  if  statements  representing 
error  are  filed  mth  the  town  clerk  within  six  days  of 
election.     The  examination  must  be  within  eight  days. 

Defacing  Hsts  of  voters  is  punishable  (1887,  c.  147) 
by  fifty  dollars'  fine  or  six  months'  imprisonment. 

To  carry  out  the  constitutional  amendment  for  pre- 
cinct voting  in  towns,  a  law  of  1886  (c.  264)  allows 
the  selectmen  to  divide  the  town  into  precincts  within 
sixty  days  after  it  has  been  so  voted  by  the  citizens. 

Long  agitation  of  woman  suffrage  in  various  forms, 
during  which  the  proposition  for  general  suffrage  for 
women  made  no  perceptible  progress,  resulted,  in  1879, 


PUBLIC    ADMlNlSTKATiON.  17 

in  tlie  passage  of  a  law  (c.  223)  giving  women  the  right 
to  vote  for  school  committees.  Its  chief  section  was 
as  follows,  the  words  in  brackets  having  been  inserted 
in  1881  (c.  191)  : 

"Every  woman  who  is  a  citizen  of  this  Commonwealth,  of 
twenty-one  years  of  age  and  upwards,  and  has  the  educational 
qualifications  required  by  the  twentieth  article  of  the  amendments 
to  the  constitution,  excepting  paupei-s  and  persons  under  guar- 
dianship, who  shall  have  resided  within  this  Commonwealth  one 
year  and  within  the  city  or  town  in  which  she  claims  the  right  to 
vote  six  months  next  preceding  any  meeting  of  citizens  either  in 
wards  or  in  general  meeting  for  municipal  jjurposes,  and  who 
shall  have  jiaid  by  herself,  or  her  parent,  or  guardian  [or  trustee] , 
a  state,  county,  [city  or  town]  tax  which  within  two  years  next 
preceding  such  meeting  has  been  assessed  upon  her  [or  her  trus- 
tees] in  any  city  or  town,  shall  have  a  right  to  vote,  at  such  town 
or  city  meeting,  for  members  of  school  committees." 

The  registration  laws  for  men  were  made  applicable 
to  women,  bnt  the  list  of  women  voters  is  to  be  kept 
separate.  Details  as  to  registration  are  further  pre- 
scribed by  the  laws  of  1881  (c.  191)  and  of  1886 
(c.  68). 

These  are  the  chief  acts  to  reveal  the  development 
of  the  state  as  regards  voting  and  the  precautions  to 
secure  an  honest  vote  and  to  check  all  dishonesty. 

Police  Laws. 

In  the  police  administration  of   the  state  changes 
have  occurred  worth  noting.     In  1878  (c.  242),  the 
2 


18  TEN    YEARS   OF   IVIASSACHUSETTS. 

"  state  detective  "  force  was  reorganized,  to  have  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  members.  In  1879  (c.  305)  it 
was  abolished  and  the  "  district  police  "  established,  to 
consist  of  not  over  two  officers  in  each  district  attor- 
ney's district,  or  sixteen  in  all.  Theii*  duties  were 
these : 

"Said  district  police  sliall  have  and  exercise,  not  only  within 
the  district  for  which  each  member  thereof  shall  be  especially 
appointed,  but  also  throughout  the  Commonwealth,  all  the  com- 
mon law  and  statutory  powers  of  constables,  except  the  service  of 
civil  i)rocess,  and  also  all  the  statutory  powers  of  police  officers 
orwatchmen,  and  may  be  transferred  from  one  district  to  another ; 
and  the  governor  may  at  any  time  command  the  sei-vices  of  said 
distiict  police  in  suppressing  riots  and  in  preserving  tlie  peace." 

In  1885  (c.  131)  the  governor  was  authorized  to 
appoint  four  additional  district  police  officers  in  the 
districts  he  deemed  best.  In  1887  (c.  256)  the  force 
was  increased  to  twenty-two  men.  These  police  officers 
have  also  been  made  inspectors  of  factories  and  public 
buildings,  as  appears  in  the  chapter  on  labor,  and  in 
discharge  of  that  function  they  have  found  their  chief 
employment. 

In  mentioning  the  police  regulations  of  the  state, 
notice  should  be  taken  of  the  city  of  Boston,  for  a  radi- 
cal departure  in  the  state's  policy  has  been  made  in 
respect  to  the  gOA^ernment  of  the  city.  In  1878  (c.  244) 
was  passed  a  law  to  authorize  the  mayor  of  Boston  to 
appoint,  "  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  city  council, 


PUBLIC   ADMLNISTEATION.  19 

three  able  and  discreet  persons  to  constitute  a  board  of 
police  commissioners  in  said  city."  This  board  was 
given  great  powers  over  the  Boston  police  and  was 
charged  with  the  general  administration  of  pohce 
duties.  But  constantly  increasing  dissatisfaction  on 
the  part  of  the  people  of  the  state  with  the  government 
of  Boston,  especially  with  the  manner  of  enforcing  the 
liquor  license  law,  led  to  a  radical  change  in  the  poUce 
management.  By  a  law  of  1885  (c.  323),  the  famous 
"  metropolitan  pohce  "  act,  it  was  enacted  that : 

"  The  governor  of  the  Commonwealth  with  the  advice  and  con- 
sent of  the  council  shall  appoint  from  the  two  principal  political 
parties  three  citizens  of  Boston  who  shall  have  been  residents 
therein  two  years  immediately  preceding  the  date  of  their  apj^oint- 
ment,  who  shall  constitute  a  board  of  police  for  said  city,  and  who 
shall  be  swoi'n  before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  their  office." 

Full  provision  was  made  for  the  control  of  the  police 
by  the  new  commission.  The  city  thus  lost  control  of 
its  own  police,  though  it  pays  for  them  and  also  for  the 
three  commissioners.  The  bill  was  not  enacted  till 
after  the  most  violent  legislative  struggle  in  the  ten 
years  now  under  review.  For  three  days  there  was 
the  most  determined  opposition,  led  by  Boston  demo- 
crats. Filibustering  of  all  sorts  was  resorted  to  and 
everything  done  to  gain  time.  The  majority  of  the 
legislature,  which  was  determined  to  pass  the  bill, 
gave  the  minority  full  benefit  of  parliamentary  rules. 
Obstructive  tactics  were   employed  to  the   full   amid 


20  TEN   YEAES   OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

constant  excitement.  The  strain  on  the  speaker,  Mr. 
Brackett,  was  severe,  but  he  maintained  remarkable 
courtesy  and  fii-muess.  The  bill  was  in  charge  of  Mr. 
Charles  Carleton  Coffin  of  Boston.  Finally,  on  the 
third  day,  the  majority,  thinking  that  they  had  rights  as 
well  as  the  minority,  held  a  conference  during  the  recess 
between  the  forenoon  and  afternoon  sessions.  A  course 
of  action  was  decided  upon,  involving  the  suspension 
of  the  rules  under  which  the  filibustering  had  occurred, 
and  it  was  adhered  to  rigidly  in  open  session  in  the 
afternoon.  The  bill  was  forced  through  the  house 
amid  the  protests  of  its  opponents  that  the  right  of 
local  self-government  was  being  shamefully  trampled 
under  foot  by  the  republican  majority.  The  excite- 
ment at  the  culmination  of  the  scene  was  intense  and 
it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  order  could  be 
preserved.  As  soon  as  the  minority  saw  that  their 
cause  was  lost,  they  formed  in  procession,  headed  by 
Mr.  Randall  of  Boston,  and  marched  across  the  floor  in 
front  of  the  speaker's  chair,  out  of  the  house.  They 
held  a  meeting  immediately  in  an  adjoining  committee 
room  and  passed  resolutions  denouncing  the  bill  and 
the  mode  of  its  passage.  Since  then  the  metropolitan 
police  commission  has  been  in  power  in  Boston. 

To  aid  in  enforcing  order  in  towns,  the  employment 
of  the  police  of  cities  was  made  possible  (1880,  c.  82). 

For  the  maintenance  of  order  on  steamboats,  munic- 


PUBLIC   ADMINISTRATION.  21 

ipal  authorities  may  appoint  (1880,  c.  85)  persons  in 
the  employment  of  steamboat  companies  as  pohce 
officers. 

The  Judiciary. 

Within  the  ten  years  marked  changes  have  occurred 
in  the  judicial  system  of  the  state,  to  the  general  end 
of  a  more  speedy  attainment  of  justice.  They  have 
been  such  as  would  be  natural  with  the  growth  of 
population  and  with  the  inadequacy  of  a  smaller  scale 
to  a  larger  community.  "  Original  and  concurrent 
jurisdiction  with  the  supreme  judicial  coui't  in  all  mat- 
ters in  which  relief  or  discovery  in  equity  is  sought, 
with  all  the  powers  and  authorities  incident  to  such 
jurisdiction,"  has  been  given  to  the  superior  court 
(1883,  c.  223). 

In  1885  (c.  322)  the  jurisdiction  of  district  and 
police  courts  was  enlarged  to  include  "  all  crimes  under 
the  degree  of  felony,  except  conspiracies  and  libels  and 
cases  where  a  prosecution  by  indictment  or  information 
is  required  by  law,"  and  in  1887  (c.  293)  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  municipal,  police  and  district  courts  in  certain 
criminal  cases  was  further  enlarged  to  be  concurrent 
with  that  of  the  superior  court. 

For  years  an  annual  contest  occurred  in  the  legis- 
lature over  the  transfer  of  divorce  cases  from  the 
supreme  judicial  to  the  superior  court.     Pressure   of 


22  TEN  YEAES   OF  IIASSACHUSETTS. 

work  upon  the  supreme  court  was  the  reason  for  the 
change.  The  sanctity  of  the  marriage  relation,  mak- 
ing every  divorce  case  worthy  the  attention  of  the 
highest  court,  was  the  reason  against  it.  But  in  1887 
(c.  332)  it  was  enacted  without  opposition  that 

"  The  superior  court  shall  have  exclusive  original  jurisdiction 
of  all  causes  of  divorce  and  nullity  or  validity  of  maniage,  and 
in  such  proceedings  shall  have  all  powers  as  to  alimony,  the  cus- 
tody of  children  or  otherwise  which  the  supreme  judicial  court  has 
heretofore  had  and  exercised.'' 

The  superior  court  was  enlarged  the  same  year 
(c.  31)  from  ten  associate  justices  to  eleven  and  by 
chapter  420,  1887,  any  justice  of  the  superior  court, 
after  ten  years'  consecutive  service,  and  being  seventy 
years  of  age,  may  resign  and  receive  half  pay  for  the 
remainder  of  his  life. 

A  change  in  court  practice  is  to  be  noticed  by  the 
law  of  1882  (c.  134),  allowing  a  person  arrested  on 
criminal  process  to  deposit  money  to  the  amount  of  his 
bail  instead  of  furnishing  sureties. 

To  prevent  the  defeat  of  justice  through  local  pre- 
judice, cases  may  be  transferred  from  one  county  to 
another  by  the  following  law  of  1887  (c.  347)  : 

"  In  all  actions  and  proceedings  hereafter  pending  in  the  su- 
preme judicial  or  superior  court,  whenever  it  shall  be  made  to 
appear  to  the  satisfaction  of  any  justice  of  the  couit,  in  which 
such  action  or  proceeding  is  jDending,  that  by  reason  of  local 
prejudice  or  other  cause  the  parties  to  such  action  or  proceeding, 
or  either  of  them,  cannot  have  an  impartial  trial  in  the  county 


PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATION.  23 

where  the  same  was  commenced  and  is  pending,  the  court  may 
on  application  of  eitlier  party  thex'eto,  order  such  action  or  pro- 
ceeding to  be  removed  for  trial  to  such  other  county  as  shall  be 
deemed  most  fair  and  equitable  for  the  parties  thereto." 

An  important  departure  was  made  in  1887  (c.  435) 
in  the  law  for  punishing  criminals  by  the  "  habitual 
criminals  "  act : 

"  Whoever  has  been  twice  convicted  of  crime,  sentenced  and 
committed  to  prison,  in  this  or  any  other  state,  or  once  in  this  and 
once  at  least  in  any  other  state,  for  terms  of  not  less  than  three 
years  each,  shall,  upon  conviction  of  a  felony  committed  in  this 
state  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  be  deemed  to  be  an.  habitual 
criminal,  and  shall  be  punished  by  imprisonment  in  the  state 
prison  for  twenty-five  years." 

This  law  is  clearly  due  to  the  growing  feeling  of  the 
people  that  there  is  a  class  of  criminals  who  are  incor- 
rigible, and  that  the  safest  policy  is  to  confine  them 
where  they  cannot  commit  further  crime. 


Financial  Mattees. 

We  come  now  to  that  feature  of  public  administrar 
tion  which  is  of  a  financial  nature,  regarding  the  busi- 
ness of  the  state  as  that  of  a  person,  or  regarding  its 
financial  policy  toward  its  citizens.  In  1879  was  the 
period  of  retrenchment,  when  many  salaries  were  cut 
down  materially.  The  state  saw  that  many  opportuni- 
ties for  petty  errors  against  it  existed,  and  by  chapter 
293  of  that  year  the  accounts  of  county  oificers  were 


24  TEN    YEARS    OF    MASSACHUSETTS. 

put  under  the  supervision  of  the  savings  bank  commis- 
sioners as  an  auditing  board.  The  commissioners  were 
required  to  compile  the  material  parts  of  the  annual 
reports  of  these  officers  and  to  present  them  to  the  leg- 
islature. They  were  also  required  to  examine  in  detail 
the  books  of  every  county  treasurer  at  least  once  a 
year  without  previous  notice  to  him,  and  might  order 
such  changes  of  method  as  they  saw  fit.  By  act  of 
1887  (c.  438)  a  special  "  controller  "  was  provided  for, 
to  be  appointed  by  the  governor,  to  audit  accounts  of 
county  officers,  officers  of  inferior  courts  and  trial 
justices. 

One  of  the  most  important  acts  of  the  ten  years  in 
the  financial  policy  of  the  state  was  that  of  1881 
(c.  304)  relieving  mortgaged  real  estate  from  double 
taxation,  once  in  the  name  of  the  mortgagor  and  once 
in  the  name  of  the  mortgagee.  This  measure  was 
stubbornly  opposed  for  several  years  immediately  be- 
fore its  final  success  in  1881.  Immediately  afterward, 
in  1882  and  in  1883,  efforts  were  made  strenuously  for 
its  repeal,  but  they  had  small  comparative  support  and 
then  ceased.  The  member  who  was  the  most  con- 
spicuous advocate  of  this  measure,  not  disheartened  by 
defeat  and  sharing  its  success,  was  Mr.  Hastings  of 
Worcester.  The  bill  was  his  specialty  and  his  effort 
was  a  material  factor  in  the  result. 

The  course  of  the  state  in  its  relation  to  the  debts  of 


PUBLIC   ADMINISTRATION.  25 

cities  is  noticeable.  It  lias  seemed  best  to  put  the  cities 
under  the  restriction  of  law,  so  that  they  may  not  run 
too  much  into  debt.  The  purpose  has  been  to  prevent 
a  reckless  city  government  from  going  too  far  in  its 
public  expense.  In  1885  (c.  178)  it  was  enacted  that 
the  taxes  in  Boston,  exclusive  of  the  state  tax,  and  of 
*the  sums  required  to  be  raised  on  account  of  the  city 
debt,  should  not  be  in  any  year  over  nine  dollars  on  a 
thousand  on  the  average  assessment  for  the  previous 
five  years.  The  debt  of  Boston  was  not  to  be  over  two 
and  a  half  per  cent,  of  the  above  valuation  till  Janu- 
ary 1,  1887,  and  not  over  two  per  cent,  after  that.  In 
the  same  year  (c.  312)  the  taxes  in  other  cities,  exclu- 
sive of  state  and  county  tax  and  sums  to  be  raised  on 
account  of  the  city  debt  (except  in  Worcester,  Lynn, 
Gloucester  and  Brockton  to  January  1,  1889),  were 
limited  to  twelve  dollars  on  a  thousand  and  the  limit 
of  debt  fixed  at  two  and  a  half  per  cent. 

An  enactment  for  the  good  of  the  farming  popula- 
tion was  the  law  for  the  establishment  of  the  agricul- 
tural experiment  station  in  1883  (c.  212)  to  conduct 
experiments  to  learn — 

^'  First,  The  causes,  prevention  and  remedies  of  the  diseases  of 
domestic  animals,  plants  and  trees ;  Second,  The  history  and 
ha])its  of  insects  d<?structi\'e  to  vegetation,  and  the  means  of  abat- 
ing them  ;  Third,  The  manufacture  and  composition  of  both  for- 
eign and  domestic  fertilizers,  their  several  values  and  their 
adaptability  to  different  crojis  and  soils  ;  Fourth,  The  values,  under 


26  TEN  YEAES   OF   JVIASSACHUSETTS. 

all  conditions,  as  food  for  all  farm  animals,  for  various  purposes, 
of  tiie  several  forage,  grain  and  root  crops ;  Fifth,  The  compara- 
tive value  of  green  and  diy  forage,  and  the  cost  of  producing  and 
preserving  it  in  the  best  condition ;  Sixth,  The  adulteration  of 
any  article  of  food  intended  for  the  use  of  men  or  animals ;  and 
in  any  other  subjects  which  may  be  deemed  advantageous  to  the 
ao-ricultm-e  and  horticulture  of  the  Commonwealth." 

An  annual  report  is  required  (1883,  c.  105)  of  the 
amount  of  money  spent  and  of  tlie  results  of  the  ex- 
periments and  five  thousand  dollars  a  year  in  quarterly 
instalments,  (1885,  c.  327)  is  to  be  paid  for  the  support 
of  the  station.  The  board  of  control  has  been  incor- 
porated (1887,  c.  31)  and  the  corporation  is  in  charge 
of  the  property.  Another  financial  venture  of  the  state 
in  agriculture  was  offering  a  bounty  of  one  dollar  a 
ton  (1883,  c.  189)  for  sugar  beets  or  sorghum  cane  to 
be  used  in  this  state  in  the  manufacture  of  sugar.  No 
bounty  has  ever  been  claimed. 

A  development  in  municipal  finance  authorized  by 
the  legislature  (1884,  c.  129)  is  that  cities,  for  debts 
already  permitted  by  law,  may  issue  notes,  bonds  or 
scrip  and  sell  them  pubHcly  or  privately  at  not  less 
than  par  for  the  payment  of  their  debts. 

The  state  proposes  to  exercise  a  closer  supervision 
than  hitherto  over  its  manufactures  and  by  a  law  of 
1886  (c.  174)  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  must 
send  to  every  manufacturing  establishment  a  schedule 
of  inquiries  as  to  "  (1)  Name  of  the  individual,  fhm  or 


PUBLIC    ADMINISTRATION.  27 

corporation.  (2)  Kind  of  goods  manufactured  or  busi- 
ness done.  (3)  Number  of  partners  or  stockholders. 
(4)  Capital  invested.  (5)  Principal  stock  or  raw  ma- 
terial used,  and  total  value  thereof.  (6)  Gross  quan- 
tity and  value  of  articles  manufactured.  (7)  Average 
number  of  persons  employed,  distinguishing  as  to  sex, 
and  whether  adults  or  children.  (8)  Smallest  number 
of  persons  employed,  and  the  month  in  which  such 
number  was  employed.  (9)  Largest  number  of  persons 
employed,  and  the  month  in  which  such  number  was 
employed.  (10)  Total  wages,  not  including  salaries 
of  managers,  paid  during  the  year,  distinguishing  as  to 
sex,  adults  and  children.  (11)  Proportion  that  the 
business  of  the  year  bore  to  the  greatest  capacity  for 
production  of  the  estabhshment.  (12)  Number  of 
weeks  in  operation  during  the  year,  partial  time  being 
reduced  to  full  time."  These  statistics  are  to  be  given 
under  condition  of  privacy,  and  are  to  be  tabulated 
and  presented  in  an  annual  report  to  the  legislature. 

The  state  has  seen  fit  to  extend  its  care  over  the 
forests  (1886,  c.  296)  more  than  ever  before  and  pro- 
poses to  punish  by  fine  up  to  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  any  one  who  wilfully  or  without  reasonable 
care  sets  fire  to  another's  woodland.  Forest  firewards 
are  to  be  appointed  by  the  selectmen  in  all  the  towns 
of  the  state  and  they  may  suppress  forest  fkes  at  public 
expense. 


28  TEN  YEARS   OF   IVIASSACHUSETTS. 

The  state  is  disposed  to  re-assert  its  control  over  its 
great  ponds  (1886,  c.  248)  and  is  also  changing  its 
relative  position  regarding  the  use  of  water  for  domes- 
tic or  for  manufacturing  purposes.  This  appeared  in 
the  famous  Fall  River  case  (1886,  c.  353)  where  the 
city  was  granted  the  right,  against  the  strenuous  ef- 
forts of  the  manufacturers,  to  take  water  from  North 
Watuppa  pond  for  domestic  uses  without  payment. 
The  bill  was  passed  through  both  branches  by  large 
majorities  over  the  veto  of  Gov.  Robinson,  and  the  late 
Mr.  Bartlett  of  Fairhaven  made  the  law  argument 
wliich  decided  the  success  of  the  bill. 

The  state  is  becoming  more  careful  of  its  birds  and 
game,  and  legislates  more  and  more  strictly  for  their 
protection  (1886,  c.  276). 

Co.M^vnssiONS. 

No  change  has  been  made  by  the  state  in  its  pohcy 
of  intrusting  the  enforcement  of  certain  lines  of  action 
to  boards  or  commissions,  but  the  number  of  such 
bodies  has  markedly  increased.  In  1879  (c.  263)  was 
created  the  board  of  harbor  and  land  commissioners. 
In  the  same  year  was  established  (as  a  reorganization) 
the  state  board  of  health,  lunacy  and  charity,  which 
continued  until  1886,  when  (c.  101)  the  health  de- 
partment was  made  a  separate  board.     In  1879,  also 


PUBLIC   ADMINISTRATION.  29 

(c.  294),  was  created  the  present  board  of  prison  com- 
missioners. In  1885  (c.  313)  was  created  the  board 
of  registration  in  pharmacy  and  (c.  314)  the  board  of 
gas  commissioners.  In  1887  (c.  137)  was  created  the 
board  of  registration  in  dentistry.  Each  of  these  last 
three  boards  reveals  the  state  entering  upon  a  domain 
where  it  had  not  exercised  power  before,  marking  a 
new  departure  in  its  relations  to  its  citizens.  In  the 
case  of  each  commission,  it  was  held  that  the  good  of 
the  public,  its  protection  from  incompetent  pharma- 
cists, from  the  expense  of  supporting  rival  gas  com- 
panies, and  from  incompetent  dentists,  required  tiie 
interposition  of  the  authority  of  the  state.  In  1887 
(c.  382)  the  gas  commissioners  were  made  a  board  of 
gas  and  electric  light  commissioners,  with  large  powers 
over  gas  and  electric  light  companies. 

The  Civel  Service. 

In  the  record  relating  to  public  administration  a 
high  place  should  be  given  to  the  act  (1884,  c.  320) 
to  improve  the  civil  service  of  the  state  and  of  the 
cities.  Nothing  like  it  had  been  enacted  before,  and 
it  was  the  direct  result  of  the  agitation  for  a  civil 
service  law  for  the  nation.  Its  object  was  twofold: 
to  improve  the  civil  service,  as  stated  in  its  title,  and 
also  to  strike  at  a  system  which  was  corrupting  to  the 


30  TEN"  YEAES   OF  ]SIASSACHTJSETTS. 

politics  of  tlie  state  and  of  its  cities.  A  joint  special 
committee  was  appointed  on  the  subject,  of  which  j\Ir. 
Thayer  of  Berkshire  was  chairman  on  the  part  of  the 
senate  and  ]Mr.  Burdett  of  Hingham  on  the  part  of 
the  house,  and  each  of  these  members  had  a  prominent 
share  in  shaping  the  bill  and  in  carrying  it  through  to 
enactment.     The  chief  features  of  the  law  are  these  : 

"  Sect.  3.  Xo  person  habitually  using  intoxicating  beverages 
to  excess,  shall  be  appointed  to,  or  retained  in  any  office,  appoint- 
ment or  employment  to  which  the  pi'ovisions  of  this  act  are  ap- 
plicable; nor  shall  any  vendor  of  intoxicating  liquor  be  so 
appointed  or  retained. 

"  Sect.  4.  No  person  shall  be  appointed  to  or  employed  in  any 
office  to  which  the  provisions  of  this  act  are  applicable  within  one 
3'ear  after  his  comdction  of  any  offence  against  the  laws  of  this 
Commonwealth ;  and  if  any  person  holding  such  an  appointment 
or  in  any  such  employment  shall  be  convicted  of  the  violation  of 
any  such  law,  he  shall  be  immediately  discharged  from  such 
apijointment  or  emijloyment. 

"Sect.  5.  No  recommendation  of  any  pei'son  who  shall  apply 
for  office  or  place  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  which  may  be 
given  by  any  senator,  member  of  the  house  of  representatives, 
alderman  or  councilman,  except  as  to  the  character  or  residence 
of  the  applicant,  shall  be  received  or  considered  by  any  person 
concerned  in  making  any  appointment  under  this  act. 

"Sect.  6.  Xo  councillor,  senator,  representative,  alderman  or 
councilman,  or  any  officer  or  employee  of  either  of  said  bodies, 
and  no  executive  or  judicial  officer  of  the  state,  and  no  clerk  or 
employee  of  any  department  or  branch  of  the  government  of  the 
state,  and  no  executive  officer,  clerk  or  emjiloj^ee  of  any  depart- 
ment of  any  city  government  shall  personally,  directh'  or  indirectly, 
solicit  or  receive,  or  be  in  any  manner  concerned  in  soliciting  or 
receiving,  any  assessment,  subscription  or  contribution  for  any 
political  pm'pose  whatever;    but  this  shall  not  be  construed  to 


PUBLIC   ADIVIINISTEATION.  31 

forbid  such  persons  to  be  members  of  laolitical  organizations  or 
committees. 

"Sect.  7.  No  person  shall,  in  any  room  or  building  occupied 
for  the  discharge  of  official  duties  by  any  officer  or  employee  of 
the  state  or  any  city  thereof,  solicit  in  any  manner  whatevei",  or 
receive  any  contribution  of  money  or  any  other  thing  of  value  for 
any  political  purpose  whatever. 

"  Sect.  8.  Xo  officer  or  employee  of  the  state,  or  any  city 
thereof,  shall  discharge,  or  promote,  or  degrade,  or  in  any  man- 
ner change  the  official  rank  or  comiDensation  of  any  other  officer 
or  emj^loyee,  or  promise  or  threaten  to  do  so,  for  giving  or  with- 
holding or  neglecting  to  make  any  contribution  of  money  or  other 
valuable  thing  for  any  political  purpose. 

"  Sect.  9.  No  officer,  clerk  or  other  person  in  the  sei-vice  of  the 
state  or  any  city  thereof  shall,  directly  or  indirectly,  give  or  hand 
over  to  any  other  officer,  clerk  or  person  in  said  service,  or  to  any 
councillor,  senator,  member  of  the  house  of  representatives,  alder- 
man, councilman,  or  commissioner,  any  money  or  other  valuable 
thing  on  account  of  or  to  be  applied  to  the  promotion  of  any 
political  object  whatever. 

"Sect.  10.  No  person  in  the  sei-vice  of  the  state  or  any  city 
thereof,  shall  use  his  official  authority  or  influence  either  to  coerce 
the  political  action  of  any  person  or  body  or  to  interfere  with  any 
election. 

"  Sect.  11.  No  person  in  the  public  service  shall  for  that  rea- 
son be  under  any  obligation  to  contribute  to  any  political  fund,  or 
to  render  any  political  service,  and  shall  not  be  removed  or  other- 
wise prejudiced  for  refusing  to  do  so. 

"Sect.  12.  No  person  while  holding  any  public  office  or  in 
nomination  for.  or  while  seeking  a  nomination  or  appointment  for 
any  office,  shall  corruptly  use,  or  promise  to  use,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  any  official  authority  or  influence  (whether  then 
possessed  or  merely  anticipated),  in  the  way  of  conferring  upon 
any  person,  or  in  oi'der  to  secure  or  aid  any  person  in  securing 
any  office  or  public  employment,  or  any  nomination,  confirmation, 
promotion  or  increase  of  salaiy,  upon  the  consideration  or  condi- 
tion that  the  vote  or  political  influence  or  action  of  the  last  named 


32  TEN  YEARS   OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

person,  or  any  other,  shall  be  given  or  used  in  behalf  of  any 
candidate,  officer  or  part}',  or  upon  any  other  corrupt  condition  or 
consideration. 

"Sect.  13.  Xo  city  in  the  Commonw^ealth  shall  pay  any  bill 
incurred  by  any  official  or  officials  thereof  for  wines,  liquors  or 
cigars  ;  nor  shall  any  citj-  pay  any  bill  for  refreshments  furnished 
to  any  official  of  said  city  where  the  amount  for  any  one  day  shall 
exceed  one  dollar  for  each  member  of  the  government  of  said  city 
who  certifies  over  his  own  signature  to  the  correctness  of  the  bill." 

Other  regulations  were  made  in  much  detail  for  carry- 
ing out  the  spirit  of  the  law,  and  the  commissioners 
appointed  under  it  report  that  it  is  in  successful  opera- 
tion. Honorably  discharged  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the 
United  States  service  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  are 
exempt  (1887,  c.  437)  from  passing  the  civil  service 
examinations. 


The  Militaey,  Claems,  Race  Distixctioks,  Towxs, 
Memorial  Day,  Parks. 

Regarding  the  mihtary  arm  of  the  government, 
almost  no  advance  has  been  made  in  the  public  admin- 
istration. The  militia  law  has  been  codified  and  im- 
proved (1887,  c.  411) ;  the  efficiency  of  the  mihtia 
under  it  has  increased,  but  there  has  been  nothing  to 
be  called  a  new  development. 

The  state  has  recognized  its  obligation  as  a  jDcrson 
to  provide  a  method  of  passing  upon  claims  against  it, 
and  the  superior  court  has  been  given  jurisdiction  of 


PUBLIC   ADMINISTRATION.  33 

them  (1879,  c.  255,  and  1887,  c.  216)  whether  at  law 
or  in  equity. 

The  state  is  not  only  just  to  its  citizens,  regardless 
of  color  and  race,  but  it  is  determined  that  distinctions 
on  such  grounds  shall  not  be  made  by  its  citizens 
toward  each  other  (1885,  c.  316)  : 

"Whoever  makes  any  distinction,  discrimination  or  resti'iction 
on  account  of  color  or  race,  or  except  for  good  cause  in  respect 
to  the  admission  of  any  laerson  to,  or  his  treatment  in,  any  theatre, 
skating  rink  or  other  public  place  of  amusement,  whether  such 
theatre,  skating  rink  or  jilace  be  licensed  or  not,  and  whether  it 
be  required  to  be  licensed  or  not,  or  public  conveyance,  public 
meeting  or  inn,  whether  licensed  or  not  licensed,  shall  be  jjun- 
ished  by  fine  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars." 

This  law  grew  out  of  discrimination  against  a  person 
of  color  at  a  skating  rink  in  Boston  by  the  proprietor 
of  the  place. 

It  continues  to  be  the  policy  of  the  state  to  promote 
the  incorporation  of  towns,  as  best  adapted  to  advance 
its  own  strength  and  to  increase  the  prosperity  of  its 
citizens.  Within  the  ten  years  it  has  incorporated  the 
towns  of  North  Adams  (1878),  Cottage  City  (1880), 
Wellesley  (1881),  Millis  (1885),  Hopedale  (1886),  and 
North  At^eboro'  (1887).  It  has  also  made  cities  of 
the  towns  of  Brockton  (1881),  Maiden  (1881),  North- 
ampton (1883)  and  Waltham  (1884). 

As  a  token  of  honor  to  its  sons  in  the  Union  army 
and  navy,  the  state  has  made  May  30  a  legal  holiday 
(1881,  c.  71),  to  be  known  as  Memorial  Day. 
3 


34  TEX  YEAES   OF  IMASSACHUSETTS. 

The  fostering  care  of  the  state  for  what  makes  for 
health  and  comfort  and  beauty  is  seen  in  its  author- 
izing the  establishment  of  corporations  to  have  charge 
of  public  improvements  of  streets  and  parks,  with 
power  to  beautify  and  to  protect  them  from  injury 
(1885,  c.  157),  such  corporations  to  be  the  trustees  of 
the  towns  which  vote  to  give  their  streets  and  parks 
into  their  charge. 

The  Insane. 

In  that  department  of  public  administration  which 
relates  to  its  insane  citizens,  the  state  has  made 
great  changes,  within  the  ten  years,  to  prevent  the 
commitment  of  sane  persons  by  persons  who  may 
desire  to  be  rid  of  them  (1879,  c.  195),  to  exercise 
great  caution  in  the  commitment  of  the  insane  (1880, 
0.  250,  and  1886,  c.  319),  to  provide  for  the  care  of 
the  insane  (1886,  c.  319),  to  place  them  in  private 
families  (1885,  c.  385),  to  allow  cities  with  over  fifty 
thousand  people  to  erect  asylums  for  the  care  of  the 
clii'onic  insane  (1884,  c.  234),  and  to  establish  places 
of  committal  (1887,  c.  346).  In  1884  (c.  322)  a  homoe- 
opathic hospital  for  the  insane  was  established  at 
Westboro. 


PUBLIC   ADlVriNISTRATION.  35 

Juvenile  Offenders  and  Neglected  Childe,en. 

The  state  has  shown  added  care  for  its  juvenile 
offenders  and  for  its  indigent  and  neglected  children. 
By  act  of  1879  (c.  64)  juvenile  offenders  in  Boston 
may  have  their  punishment  remitted  and  be  placed  on 
probation.  Pauper  children  over  four  years  of  age 
must  not  be  kept  in  almshouses  (1879,  c.  103),  but 
must  be  put  in  some  respectable  family  or  in  some 
asylum,  unless  idiotic  or  otherwise  defective,  until 
they  can  be  cared  for  in  some  other  way.  They  must 
be  visited  at  least  once  in  three  months,  and  must  be 
carefully  treated.  Foundlings  and  deserted  children 
under  three  years  (1882,  c.  181),  who  are  state  pau- 
pers, are  to  be  put  in  a  proper  family  or  other  suitable 
place,  under  the  constant  supervision  of  state  medical 
officers. 

No  child  under  twelve  years  (1882,  c.  127)  can  be 
committed  to  a  jail  or  house  of  correction,  house  of 
industry,  or  the  state  workhouse,  in  default  of  bail  for 
non-pa3^ment  of  fine  or  costs,  or  for  punishment  of  any 
offence  not  punishaljle  by  imprisonment  for  life.  The 
state  board  of  lunacy  and  charity  is  to  have  the  care 
of  such  children,  a-v^aiting  examination  or  trial,  unable 
to  furnish  bail. 

State  paupers,  between  three  and  sixteen  years,  may 
be  committed  by  the  state  board  to  the  state  primary 


36  TEN   YEAES   OF   ISLkSSACHUSETTS. 

school  (1882,  c.  181),  and  orphans  or  children  of 
drunken  or  vicious  parents,  under  fourteen  years, 
growing  up  in  vice,  may  be  put  under  charge  of  the 
state  board  until  they  are  twenty-one,  or  for  a  less 
time. 

Every  city  and  every  town  with  over  five  thousand 
people  shall  (1878,  c.  217)  make  provision  for  the 
care  and  education  of  its  neglected  children  who  may 
otherwise  grow  up  "  without  salutary  parental  control 
or  education,  or  in  circumstances  exposing  them  to 
lead  idle  and  dissolute  lives." 

Abandonment  by  a  parent  of  a  cliild  less  than  two 
years  of  age  is  punishable  (1882,  c.  270)  by  two  years' 
imprisonment,  or,  if  death  is  the  result  of  the  abandon- 
ment, by  five  years'.  Persons  who  receive  for  board  a 
child  under  one  year  of  age  which  they  have  reason 
to  believe  to  be  illegitimate,  are  required  to  notify  the 
overseers  of  the  poor,  and  the  parents  of  the  child  are 
required  to  give  true  statements  concerning  it  to  the 
authorities.  Imprisonment  for  a  year,  or  one  hundred 
dollars'  fine,  is  the  penalty  for  violating  the  law. 
Whoever  unreasonably  neglects  to  support  his  minor 
child  may  be  punished  by  twenty  dollars'  fine  or  six 
months'  imprisonment. 

Refoeiviatory  Policy. 
In  dealing  with  the  criminal  classes  the  state  has 


PUBLIC   ADJMINISTKATIOX.  37 

made  a  new  departure  in  several  respects.  In  1878 
(c.  198)  provision  was  made  for  an  ofticial  to  attend 
the  Suffolk  criminal  courts  "to  investigate  the  cases 
of  persons  charged  with  or  convicted  of  crimes  and 
misdemeanors,  and  to  recommend  to  such  courts  the 
placing  on  probation  of  such  persons  as  may  reason- 
ably be  expected  to  be  reformed  without  punishment." 
Means  were  provided  for  placing  such  persons  on  pro- 
bation. In  1880  (c.  129)  the  law  was  extended  to  the 
whole  state,  with  ample  safeguards  for  the  system,  so 
that  justice  might  be  done  and  the  person  be  returned 
if  the  conditions  of  his  release  were  broken.  The 
same  year  (c.  151)  provision  was  made  for  releasing 
women  from  county  prisons  to  be  employed  in  do- 
mestic service,  under  contract  by  the  prison  commis- 
sioners, for  the  term  of  their  imprisonment,  any  woman 
leaving  such  service  to  be  returned  and  punished  by 
added  imprisonment.  Violation  of  a  permit  to  be  at 
liberty  voids  the  permit  (1884,  c.  152). 

To  encourage  good  conduct,  in  1880  (c.  218)  a 
revised  schedule  was  adopted  for  the  reduction  of 
terms  of  imj)risonment,  if  the  conduct  was  exemplary, 
in  which  the  reduction  promised  was  most  liberal. 
This  was  somewhat  modified  in  1881  (c.  141).  By 
act  of  1881  (c.  90)  women  may  be  liberated  from  the 
woman's  reformatory  prison  when  it  appears  to  the 
prison   commissioners  that  they  have  reformed;  but 


38  TEN  YEAES   OF  IklASSACHUSETTS. 

consent  of  the  court,  in  case  of  serious  crimes,  must 
first  be  obtained,  and  if  the  conditions  of  release  are 
violated,  the  woman  must  serve  her  original  term. 
To  insure  a  sufficient  term  for  the  exercise  of  reform- 
atory effort,  no  convict  shall  be  sentenced  (1880, 
c.  114)  to  the  Sherborn  woman's  prison  for  less  than 
one  year. 

The  reformatory  policy  in  regard  to  men,  either 
young  or  not  hardened  offenders,  was  put  in  force  by 
the  state  in  1884  (c.  255).  The  Concord  state  prison 
was  taken  for  a  reformatory,  and  the  older  and  more 
hardened  criminals  were  sent  back  to  the  old  state 
prison  at  Charlestown.  A  new  system  was  adopted 
in  regard  to  the  treatment  and  imprisonment  of  those 
who  were  deemed  subjects  for  reform,  and  the  system 
of  sentences  arranged  with  much  detail.  One  of  the 
officers  is  an  instructor,  who  "shall  devote  his  whole 
time  to  the  instruction  of  the  prisoners  and  the  pro- 
motion of  their  moral  and  religious  well-being."  The 
system  of  conditional  release  is  employed,  and  the 
prisoners  a.re  carefully  classified  for  purposes  of  re- 
form. The  sentence  of  imprisonment  is  based  on  the 
following  (1886,  c.  323)  : 

"  When  a  convict  is  sentenced  to  the  Massachusetts  reforma- 
tory, the  court  or  ti'ial  justice  imposing  the  sentence  shall  not  fix 
or  limit  the  duration  thereof,  imless  the  term  of  said  sentence 
shall  be  more  than  five  years,  but  said  convict  shall  merely  be 
sentenced  to  the  Massachusetts  refoi-matoiy." 


PUBLIC   ADMIlSnSTRATION.  39 

The  state,  in  these  ten  years,  has  tended  to  become 
more  humane  toward  its  prisoners.  A  lock  letter-box 
for  communication  by  the  prisoners  with  the  principal 
officer,  or  any  director  or  trustee,  is  to  be  provided  in 
each  penal  or  reformatory  institution  (1878,  c.  276). 
Punishment  by  the  gag  in  any  penal  or  charitable 
institution  is  forbidden  (1879,  c.  181),  under  fifty 
dollars'  penalty.  This  grew  out  of  a  sensational  case 
of  the  use  of  the  gag,  and  made  much  stir  at  the  time. 
Keepers  of  jails  and  houses  of  correction  may  spend 
annually  (1881,  c.  125)  one  hundred  dollars  for  books 
and  papers  for  their  prisoners.  They  may  also  spend 
(1881,  c.  126)  as  much  as  ten  dollars  to  help  any  one 
prisoner  when  he  is  discharged  from  their  custody, 
either  giving  him  the  cash  outright  or  its  equivalent 
in  board,  clothing,  transportation  or  tools.  A  w^oman 
agent  may  be  employed  (1881,  c.  179)  to  help  dis- 
charged women  convicts  to  obtain  employment  and 
to  give  them  such  pecuniary  aid  as  is  deemed  advis- 
able. Women  charged  with  crime,  whose  cases  are 
disposed  of  without  sentence  (1886,  c.  177),  may  have 
a  payment  for  their  benefit  made  to  the  Temporary 
Asylum  for  Discharged  Female  Prisoners.  The  law 
for  one  hour  each  evening  for  instruction  in  reading 
and  writing,  for  inmates  of  the  state  prison,  has  been 
enlarged  (1886,  c.  197)  so  that  "certain  schools  for 
instruction  of  the  prisoners  "  may  be  maintained. 


40  TEX  YEAKS   OF  IMASSACHUSETTS. 

The  law  in  regard  to  serving  cumulative  sentences 
has  been  made  clearer  (1884,  c.  265)  : 

"  A  person  i;pon  Asiiom  two  or  more  sentences  to  imprisonment 
have  been  imposed  may  be  fully  committed  upon  all  such  sentences 
at  one  and  the  same  time,  and  such  sentences  shall  be  served  iu 
the  order  named  in  the  mittimuses  upon  which  such  person  is 
committed." 

For  the  protection  of  women  under  arrest,  and  that 
they  may  have  the  care  of  one  of  their  o^ti  sex,  a  law 
has  been  enacted  (1887,  c.  234)  for  the  ai^pointment 
of  police  matrons  in  cities  with  over  thirty  thousand 
people,  and  for  a  house  of  detention  for  women  in 
Boston.  Says  the  law:  "A  police  matron  shall  have 
the  entire  care  and  charge  of  all  women  held  under 
arrest  in  the  station  to  which  she  is  attached." 


RELIGIOUS   ADVANCE.  41 


RELIGIOUS  ADVANCE. 

Congregational  Churches — Roman  Catholic  Churches- 
Instruction  EN  Jails — Sunday  Law. 

Almost  no  development  in  religious  matters,  as 
related  to  the  laws,  is  found  in  the  ten  years  from 
1878  to  1887.  So  large  has  been  the  opportunity 
already  granted  that  the  pressure  of  religious  wants 
against  legal  religious  possibilities  has  scarcely  been 
felt.  The  most  notable  change  is  that  which  concerns 
the  growth  of  the  Orthodox  Congregational  churches. 
The  historic  organization  has  been  twofold — the  church 
and  the  parish.  But  latterly  has  been  developed  the 
policy  of  abolishing  the  parish  entirely  and  of  making 
the  church  the  sole  organization.  At  first  this  policy 
was  introduced  by  the  incorporation  of  churches  sep- 
arately by  special  enactment.  Thus  there  were  in- 
corporated the  Broadway  Congregational  Church  in 
Somerville  (1883,  c.  269),  the  Highland  Congregational 
in  Lowell  (1884,  c.  202),  the  Orthodox  Congregational 
in  Ashby  (1885,  c.  177),  the  Union  Congregational  in 
Wrentham  (1886,  c.  56),  the  Central  Congregational 
in  Chelmsford  (1886,  c.  249),  and  the  First  Congrega- 


42  TEN   YEARS   OF   :MASSACHUSETTS. 

tional  in  Ajer  (1887,  c.  359).  Near  the  end  of  the 
session,  in  1887  (c.  404),  came  the  general  law,  whose 
first  sentence  is :  "  Any  church  now  existing  or  that 
may  be  hereafter  organized  in  this  Commonwealth, 
may  be  incorporated  according  to  the  provisions  of 
this  act."  This  provides  a  uniform  method  for  the 
incorporation  of  churches,  and  marks  a  radical  depart- 
ure in  church  history.  Church  members  only  can  be 
members  of  the  corporation,  and  the  historic  parish  is 
wiped  out  in  ev^ery  church  so  incorporated. 

A  general  law  for  the  formation  of  religious  societies 
(J.880,  c.  21)  pro^ddes  the  method  by  which  ten  or 
more  persons,  male  or  female,  in  the  state,  may  become 
a  corporation,  with  the  powers  and  duties  of  religious 
societies  pre^dously  recognized.  A  method  for  the 
incorporation  of  Roman  Catholic  churches  has  also 
been  provided  (1879,  c.  108),  by  which  any  such 
church  may  be  incorporated.  The  archbishop  or  bishop 
of  the  diocese,  the  \'icar  general  of  the  diocese  and 
the  pastor  of  the  church,  respectively,  or  a  majority  of 
them,  and  two  laymen,  members  of  the  church,  may 
be  incorporated  as  members  of  the  church,  with  the 
powers  usual  in  such  cases. 

The  law  gi'vang  rehgious  freedom  to  prisoners  in 
jails  and  houses  of  correction  has  been  extended  to 
inmates  of  public  charitable  and  reformatory  institu- 
tions (1879,  c.  158),  but  the   inmates   of   all  public 


KELIGIOUS   ADVANCE.  43 

institutions  may  be  required  to  assemble  in  the  chapel 
for  such  "general  religious  instruction,  including  the 
reading  of  the  Bible,  as  the  board  having  charge  of 
the  institution  may  deem  ayIsc  and  expedient." 

"All  religious  societies  shall  be  exempt  from  obtaining  a 
license  required  by  the  laws  of  tliis  Commonwealth  for  public 
entertainments,  provided  said  entertainments  are  for  a  religious 
or  charitable  purpose"  (1880,  c.  188). 

The  law  for  an  annual  election  sermon  before  each 
new  state  government  has  been  repealed  (1884,  c.  60). 

Churches  and  religious  societies  may  appoint  not 
over  five  trustees,  who  may  be  incorporated  and  hold 
funds  in  trust  (1884,  c.  GO). 

In  1887  was  made  a  thorough  revision  of  the  Sun- 
day law,  showing  how  far  the  sentiment  of  the  state 
had  changed  as  regards  Sunday  observance.  The 
whole  affair  grew  out  of  the  labor  agitation  of  the 
times.  Certain  barbers  objected  to  shaving  on  Sunday, 
and  had  recourse  to  the  old  Sunday  law,  which  had 
fallen  into  gradual  disuse,  to  enforce  their  position. 
The  law  was  clear,  and  there  was  no  course  for  the 
courts  but  to  convict  upon  the  evidence  presented. 
Upon  the  announcement  of  the  decision  of  the  supreme 
court,  to  which  the  test  case  had  been  appealed,  the 
police  commissioners  of  Boston  ordered  the  old  law  to 
be  enforced  in  regard  to  barber  shops,  sales  of  Sunday 
newspapers  by  news-dealers,  and  other  similar  matters. 


44  TEN  YEAES    OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

Thus  the  matter  at  once  became  of  vital  interest  to 
the  whole  community,  and  the  revision  of  the  Sunday- 
code  by  the  legislature  was  made  the  subject  of  much 
agitation.  Finally  an  agreement  was  reached,  and  the 
things  formerly  prohibited,  but  now  permitted,  appear 
chiefly  in  this  Ust  (1887,  c.  391) : 

— "  but  nothing  in  this  section  shall  be  held  to  pi'ohibit  the  manu- 
facture and  distribution  of  steam,  gas  or  electricity  for  illumin- 
ating purposes,  heat  or  motive  jjower,  nor  the  distribution  of 
water  for  fire  or  domestic  purposes,  nor  the  use  of  the  telegi'aph 
or  the  telephone,  nor  the  I'etail  sale  of  drugs  and  medicines,  nor 
aiticles  ordered  by  the  prescription  of  a  johysician,  nor  mechani- 
cal appliances  used  by  i^hysicians  or  sui'geons,  nor  the  letting  of 
horses  and  cai'riages,  nor  the  letting  of  yachts  and  boats,  nor  the 
iTinning  of  steam  ferryboats  on  established  routes,  of  street  rail- 
way cars,  nor  the  preparation,  i^rinting  and  publishing  of  news- 
papers, nor  the  sale  and  delivery  of  newspapers,  nor  the  retail 
sale  and  deliA'eiy  of  milk,  nor  the  transjjortation  of  milk,  nor  the 
making  of  butter  and  cheese,  nor  the  keeping  ojjen  of  public 
bath  houses,  nor  the  making  or  selling  by  bakers  or  their  em- 
ployees of  bread  or  other  food  usually  dealt  in  by  them  before 
ten  of  the  clock  in  the  morning  and  between  the  hours  of  four  of 
the  clock  and  half -past  six  of  the  clock  in  the  evening." 

The  prohibition  of  unlicensed  games,  sports,  plays 
or  public  diversions  upon  Saturday  evenings  is  also 
removed,  as  is  the  prohibition  of  Sunday  travel.  The 
railroad  commissioners  are  authorized  to  allow  the 
running  of  such  steamboat  lines  and  of  such  railroad 
trains  on  Sunday  as,  "  in  the  opinion  of  the  board,  the 
public  necessity  and  convenience  may  require,  having 
regard  to  the  due  observance  of  the  day." 


PUBLIC   MOr.ALS.  45 


PUBLIC  MORALS. 

c 

Betting  and  Gaming — Lotteries — Illustrations  of  Crime 
— Opium — Children  at  Public  Shows — Gambling  Dens — 
Divorces. 

Ix  no  degree  have  the  laws  for  the  punishment  of 
offences  against  good  morals  been  relaxed,  but  the 
record  of  the  ten  years  shows  that  the  state  is  ever  vig- 
ilant to  suppress  what  it  believes  tends  to  the  injury  of 
its  citizens.  In  1878  (c.  165)  the  registering  of  bets 
and  wagers  and  the  buying  and  selling  of  pools  "upon 
the  result  of  any  trial  or  contest  of  skill,  speed  or  en- 
durance of  man,  beast,  bird  or  machine ;  or  upon  the 
result  of  any  game  or  competition ;  or  upon  the  result 
of  any  political  nomination,  appointment  or  election," 
or  being  in  any  way  concerned  with  such  practices,  even 
as  owner  or  lessee  of  the  property  where  they  occurred, 
were  made  punishable  by  a  fine  up  to  two  thousand 
dollars,  or  by  a  year's  imprisonment,  or  both  fine  and 
imprisonment. 

Pigeon  shooting  for  amusement  or  as  a  test  of  skill 
in  marksmansliip,  not  including  wild  game,  is  punish- 
able (1879,  c.  187)  by  fifty  dollars'  fine  and  thirty  days' 


46  TEN   YEAKS   OF   IMASSACHUSETTS. 

imprisonment,  one  or  both.  Each  of  these  two  laws 
was  the  result  of  occurrences  which  aroused  public  in- 
dignation at  the  time,  in  consequence  of  their  moral 
corruption  or  their  brutality. 

In  the  interest  of  pubHc  morals  any  court  of  record 
maji  exclude  minors  from  the  court  room  (1881,  c.  274) 
when  the  court  thinks  that  the  testimony  may  injure 
the  morals  of  the  young,  when  the  young  persons  are 
not  needed  as  witnesses  or  as  parties. 

The  state  says  that  her  travellers  shall  not  be  an- 
noyed by  indecent  language  or  behavior  and  makes 
any  offender  in  that  respect  punishable  by  thirty  days' 
imprisonment  or  fifty  dollars'  fine  (1883,  c.  102). 

Persons  present  at  games  or  sports  in  common  gam- 
ing houses,  whether  or  not  they  were  playing,  may  be 
punished  by  fifty  dollars'  fine  (1883,  c.  120).  The 
mere  fact  of  presence  making  them  liable  to  punish- 
ment is  the  restriction  added  last  by  the  state.  The 
fixtures,  furniture  and  personal  property  used  in  gam- 
ing are  all  to  be  forfeited  (1885,  c.  66)  upon  conviction 
of  the  persons  using  them. 

The  state,  believing  that  any  form  of  lottery,  even 
gift  enterprises,  is  bad  for  the  morals  of  the  people,  has 
decreed  (1884,  c.  277)  that— 

"No  person  shall  sell,  exchans:e  or  dispose  of  any  property, 
or  offer  or  attempt  to  do  so  upon  any  representation,  advertise- 
ment, notice  or  inducement  that  anything  other  than  what  is 


PUBLIC   MORALS.  47 

specifically  stated  to  be  the  subject  of  the  sale  or  exchange,  is, 
or  is  to  be  delivered  or  received,  or  in  any  way  connected  with, 
or  a  part  of  the  transaction." 

The  multiplication  of  cheap  papers  with  illustrations 

of  violence  and  crime,  and  the  profuse  display  of  such 

papers  in  shop  windows,  led  the  state,  in  1885  (c.  305), 

by  a  stringent  enactment,  to  prohibit  the  circulation  of 

such  papers  among  minors,  saying: 

"Whoever  sells,  lends,  gives  away,  or  has  in  his  possession 
with  intent  to  sell  or  distribute,  or  otherwise  offers  for  loan,  gift, 
sale  or  distribution  to  any  minor  child  any  book,  pamphlet,  maga- 
zine, newspaper  or  other  ^orinted  jaaper  devoted  to  the  publica- 
tion or  principally  made  up  of  criminal  news,  police  reports, 
or  accounts  of  criminal  deeds,  or  pictures  and  stories  of  lust  or 
crime," 

or  otherwise  puts  such  publications  in  the  sight  or  pos- 
session of  a  minor  child,  shall  be  punished  by  fine  of 
from  one  hundred  to  one  thousand  dollars,  or  imprison- 
ment not  over  two  years. 

"  No  deformed  person  who  is  a  minor  or  insane,  and  no  person 
who  has  an  appearance  of  deformity  i^roduced  by  artificial  means, 
shall  be  exhibited  for  hire"  (1884,  c.  99). 

Certain  highly  colored  reports  in  the  winter  of  1885, 

regarding  the  frequenting  of  Chinese  "opium  joints" 

by  white  people,  and  stories  of  excessive  debauchery  by 

means  of  opium  led  to  the  enactment  of  the  following 

(C.73): 

"Any  person  who  opens  or  maintains,  to  be  resorted  to  by 
other  persons,  any  place  where  opium  or  any  of  its  preparations 
is  sold  or  given  away  to  be  smoked  at  such  place,  and  any  j^erson 


48  TEN   YEARS    OF   ^MASSACHUSETTS. 

who  at  such  jDlace  sells  or  gives  away  any  opium  or  any  of  its 
preparations  to  be  there  smoked  or  othenvise  used,  and  any  per- 
son who  visits  or  resorts  to  any  such  place  for  the  purjjose  of 
smoking  opium  or  any  of  its  preparations,  shall  he  punished  by 
a  fine  not  exceeding  five  hundi'ed  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  in 
the  house  of  correction  not  exceeding  six  months,  or  by  both  such 
fine  and  imprisonment." 

In  the  legislattu'e  of  1887,  after  representations  by 
some  of  the  Boston  members  of  the  house  of  the  low 
character  of  some  places  of  pubHc  amusement  in  the 
city  and  of  the  immoral  purposes  to  which  they  were 
made  accessory,  even  by  very  young  persons,  it  was  for- 
bidden (c.  446)  to  take  any  child  under  thirteen  years 
to  any  licensed  public  show  or  place  of  amusement, 
unless  accompanied  by  some  one  over  twenty-one, 
under  one  hundred  dollars'  penalty.  But  the  law  does 
not  apply  to  shows  or  amusements  occurring  before 
sunset. 

In  the  same  year,  a  particularly  horrible  murder  in  a 
gambling  den  on  Avery  street,  Boston,  where  the  house 
was  "barred  against  the  police,  led  to  the  law  (c.  448) 
that  when  any  officer,  empowered  to  serve  criminal 
process,  finds  that  access  to  any  place,  which  he  has 
rea,sonable  cause  to  believe  is  resorted  to  for  unlawful 
gaming,  is  barred  by  any  obstruction  other  than  what 
is  usual  in  ordinary  places  of  business,  he  shall  notify 
the  building  inspector,  or  other  proper  officer,  and  the 
obstruction  must  be  removed  at  the  expense  of  the 
person  in  control  of  the  building. 


PUBLIC   MORALS.  49 

One  law  has  been  passed  (1880,  c.  38),  which  ^ome 
people  will  doubtless  regard  as  a  step  backward.  It 
repeals  so  much  of  an  old  law  (1818,  c.  171)  as  for- 
bade smoking  in  the  streets  of  Boston. 

The  state  defends  marriage  by  punishing  those  who 
would  make  divorce  easy.  In  1882  (c.  194)  a  law 
was  passed  for  complete  statistics  of  divorces  to  be  re- 
turned to  the  secretary  of  state  by  clerks  of  courts  an- 
nually. In  1886  (c.  342),  knowingly  procuring  or 
assisting  to  procure  any  fraudulent  divorce  was  made 
punishable  by  two  hundred  dollars'  fine,  or  six  months' 
imprisonment,  and  in  1887  (c.  320)  the  same  penal- 
ties were  enacted  for  any  one  who  "writes,  prints  or 
publishes,  or  solicits  another  to  write,  print  or  pub- 
lish, any  notice,  circular  or  advertisement  soliciting 
employment  in  the  business  of  procuring  divorces,  or 
offering  inducements  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  such 
employment." 
4 


50  TEN  YEAKS   OF  ]VIASSACHUSETTS. 


EDUCATION. 

The  Poor  Towns — Private  Schools — School  Districts — 
Evening  Schools — Physical  Exercises — Free  Text  Books 
—  Industrial  Training  —  Teachers'  Tenure — Truancy 
— Clark  University — Illiterate  I^Iinors — Libraries  and 
Reading  Rooms. 

DuEESTG  the  ten  years  ended  with  the  legislature  of 
1887,  Massachusetts  has  made  but  little  change  in  her 
educational  system.  Previous  laws  have  been  carried 
out  and  new  legislation  has  been  unsuccessfully  at- 
tempted for  the  better  education  of  the  children  of  the 
sparsely  inhabited  country  districts.  A  readjustment 
of  the  distribution  of  the  school  fund  has  been  the 
means  proposed  for  such  aid,  and  an  elaborate  plan  has 
been  presented  by  the  secretary  of  the  state  board  of 
education,  Mr.  John  W.  Dickinson,  who  has  given 
much  study  to  the  problem,  but  it  has  not  yet  been 
adopted.  Partial  relief  is  afforded  to  the  poorer  towns 
by  the  latest  law  (1884,  c.  22)  for  distributing  one 
half  of  the  annual  income  of  the  school  fund,  as  follows : 

"  Every  town  complying  with  all  laws  in  force  relating  to  the 
distribution  of  said  income,  and  whose  valuation  of  real  and  per- 
sonal estate,  as  shown  by  the  last  returns  thereof,  does  not  exceed 


EDUCATION.  51 

one  half  million  dollars,  shall  annually  receive  three  hundred 
dollars  ;  every  such  town  whose  valuation  is  more  than  one  half 
million  dollars,  and  does  not  exceed  one  million  dollars,  shall 
receive  two  hundred  dollars ;  every  such  town  whose  valuation 
is  more  than  one  million  and  does  not  exceed  three  million  dol- 
lars, shall  receive  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  The  remainder 
of  said  half  shall  be  distnbuted  to  all  the  cities  and  towns  whose 
valuation  does  not  exceed  ten  million  dollars,  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  persons  between  five  and  fifteen  years  of  age 
belonging  to  each." 

Of  late  there  has  been  popular  interest  over  the 
growth  of  Roman  Catholic  parochial  schools,  which,  as 
such,  are  not  recognized  by  law,  but  are  included  in  the 
general  class  of  "private  schools."  In  1878  (c.  171)  it 
was  enacted  that — 

"  School  committees  shall  approve  private  schools  in  their 
respective  localities  only  when  satisfactoiy  evidence  is  afforded 
them  that  the  teaching  in  such  schools  corresponds  in  thorough- 
ness and  efficiency  to  the  teaching  in  the  public  schools,  and 
that  the  progi'ess  made  by  the  pupils  in  studies  required  by  law 
is  equal  to  the  progress  made  during  the  same  time  in  the  public 
schools  ;  and  such  teaching  shall  be  in  the  English  language." 

The  old  school  district  system,  with  its  sentimental 
but  unfortunate  association  with  the  historic  "  little  red 
school-house,"  was  the  subject  of  this  enactment  in 
1882  (c.  219):  "The  school  district  system  in  this 
Commonwealth  is  hereby  abolished,"  the  act  to  take 
effect  January  1,  1883.  Towns  had  previously  (1873) 
been  empowered  to  abolish  school  districts  and  many 
had  done  so,  for  it  was  the  experience  of  many  educa- 


52  TEN   YEAES   OF   IMASSACHTJSETTS. 

tors  that  the  district  system  caused  evils  which  were 
lightened  or  removed  by  town  management. 

For  the  better  efficiency  of  the  school  system,  the 
state  enacted  (1879,  c.  21)  that  any  one  in  control  of 
a  child  between  eight  and  fourteen  years  of  age  who 
withheld  information  sought  by  a  school  committee  or 
its  agents  should  be  punishable  by  a  fine  of  twenty  dol- 
lars or  thirty  days'  imprisonment. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  anxious  for  an  education  who 
cannot  attend  day  schools,  the  state  enacted  (1883, 
c.  174)  that.— 

"  Eveiy  town  and  city  having  ten  thousand  or  more  inhabitants 
shall  establish  and  maintain,  in  addition  to  the  schools  required 
by  law  to  be  maintained  therein,  evening  schools  for  the  instnic- 
tion  of  persons  over  twelve  years  of  age  in  orthography,  i-eading, 
writing,  geogi'aphy,  arithmetic,  drawing,  the  history  of  the  United 
States,  and  good  behavior.  Such  other  branches  of  learning  may 
be  taugiit  in  such  schools  as  the  school  committee  of  the  town 
shall  deem  expedient." 

The  school  committee  has  supervision  of  such  schools. 
In  1886  (c.  236)  the  system  was  extended  so  that 
every  city  of  fifty  thousand  people  and  over  must,  upon 
petition  of  at  least  fifty  residents  over  fourteen  years  of 
age,  desiring  and  competent  to  pursue  high  school 
studies,  and  so  certifying,  maintain  an  evening  high 
school. 

For  the  better  physical  development  of  the  pupils, 
exercises  are  permitted  (1881,  c.  193)  which  may — 


EDUCATIO^T.  53 

"  — at  the  discretion  of  the  committee,  include  calisthenic,  gym- 
nastic and  military  drill,  provided  that  no  special  instructors  shall 
be  employed  to  teach  gymnastics,  calisthenics,  or  military  drill, 
except  by  a  two  thirds  vote  of  the  committee  present  and  voting 
thereon." 

After  long  agitation  and  excited  debate  in  the  legis- 
lature, and  without  success  at  first,  the  law  for  free  text- 
books (1884,  c.  103)  was  enacted.  Its  purpose  was 
that  poor  children  might  be  on  an  equality  with  the 
well-to-do  and  that  instruction  might  not  be  hindered 
for  lack  of  books.     Its  essential  words  are  these : 

"  The  school  committee  of  eveiy  city  and  town  shall  jjurchase, 
at  the  expense  of  such  city  or  tov/n,  text-books  and  other  school 
supplies  used  in  the  public  schools ;  and  said  text-books  and  sup- 
plies shall  be  loaned  to  the  pupils  of  said  public  schools  free  of 
charge,  subject  to  such  rules  and  regulations  as  to  care  and  cus- 
tody as  the  school  committee  may  prescribe." 

The  next  year  a  law  was  passed  (c.  161)  by  which 
school  committees  are  allowed  to  provide,  at  the  public 
expense,  such  apparatus,  books  of  reference  and  other 
means  of  illustration  for  the  schools  as  they  may  deem 
necessary. 

The  tendency  of  the  times  toward  industrial  training 
in  the  public  schools  appears  in  the  law  of  1884  (c.  69) 
for  instruction  in  the  elementary  use  of  hand  tools. 
This  instruction  shall  be  given  "in  all  the  public  schools 
in  which  the  school  committee  may  deem  it  expedient," 
the  tools  to  be  free  of  cost,  the  same  as  the  text-books. 

The.  agitation  for  a  more  secure  tenure  of  office  for 


64  TEN  YEARS   OF   ]MASSACHUSETTS. 

public  school  teachers  resulted  in  the  permissive  law 
of  1886  (c.  313): 

*'  The  school  committee  of  any  city  or  town  may  elect  any  duly 
qualified  person  to  serve  as  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools  of 
such  city  or  town  during  the  pleasure  of  such  committee :  pro- 
vided, such  person  has  served  as  a  teacher  in  the  jjublic  schools 
of  such  city  or  town  for  a  jjeriod  of  not  less  than  one  year." 

The  laws  against  truancy  have  been  strengthened 
by  one  (1885,  c.  71)  to  punish,  by  fine  of  from  twenty 
to  fifty  dollars,  any  one  who,  after  notice  from  a  truant 
officer  to  refrain,  entices  in  any  manner  any  child  to 
truancy. 

A  notable  educational  event  of  the  decade  has  been 
the  incorporation  of  Clark  University  in  Worcester 
(1887,  c.  133),  upon  a  plan  equal  in  scope  to  Harvard 
University.  Its  incorporators  and  purposes  are  thus 
stated  in  the  act,  the  fii'st  corporator  mentioned  being 
the  one  who  gives  the  university  its  name  and  a  liberal 
endowment  of  over  a  million  dollars : 

"Jonas  G.  Clark,  Stephen  Salisbury,  Charles  Devens,  George 
F.  Hoar,  William  W.  Rice,  Joseph  Sargent,  John  D.  AVashburn, 
Frank  P.  Goulding  and  George  Swan,  all  of  the  city  of  Worcester 
in  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  and  their  successors,  are 
hereby  made  a  corporation  by  the  name  of  the  Trustees  of  Clark 
University ;  to  be  located  in  said  Worcester,  for  the  purposes  of 
establishing  and  maintaining  in  said  city  of  Worcester  an  institu- 
tion for  the  promotion  of  education,  and  investigation  in  science, 
literature  and  art,  to  be  called  Clark  University." 

Under  the  head  of  education,  too,  would  come  the 


EDUCATION.  55 

law  of  1880  (c.  Ill),  authorizing  towns  to  establish 
and  maintain  public  reading  rooms,  and  that  of  1885 
(c.  225),  to  protect  persons  using  public  libraries  and 
reading  rooms  from  wilful  disturbance,  under  penalty 
of  thirty  days'  imprisonment  or  fifty  dollars'  fine  upon 
the  offender. 

To  prevent  the  working  of  children  to  the  neglect  of 
their  education,  it  was  enacted  (1878,  c.  257)  that  in 
every  manufacturing,  mechanical  or  mercantile  estab- 
lishment in  the  state,  a  certificate  shall  be  kept  of  the 
age  and  place  of  birth  of  every  minor  child  there 
employed  under  sixteen  years,  which  certificate,  if  the 
minor  is  under  foui'teen  years,  shall  state  the  amount 
of  his  school  attendance  in  the  year  next  preceding 
such  employment.  The  same  act  provided  that,  after 
May  1,  1880, 

" — no  child  under  fourteen  years  of  age  shall  be  employed  in 
any  manufactiiring,  mechanical  or  mercantile  establishment,  while 
the  public  schools  in  the  cit}'  or  town  where  such  child  lives  are 
in  session,  unless  such  child  can  read  and  ■write." 

Violation  of  the  law  is  punishable  by  fine  of  from 
twenty  to  fifty  dollars,  for  the  use  of  the  public  schools. 
In  1883  (c.  224)  the  prohibition  of  the  employment  of 
children  received  this  addition :  "  and  no  child  under 
twelve  years  of  age  shall  be  so  employed  during  the 
hours  in  which  the  public  schools  are  in  session  in 
the  city  or  town  in  which  he  resides ; "  and  in  1885 


56  TEN    YEAKS    OF    ]NL\.SSACHTJSETTS. 

(c.  222)  it  was  made  to  read :  "  at  any  time  dui'ing  tlie 
days,"  instead  of  "  during  the  hours." 

In  order  to  check  the  spread  of  illiteracy,  especially 
among  the  French  Canadians  who  come  to  the  state 
and  desire  to  put  their  children  at  work  in  the  factories 
or  elsewhere  while  yet  of  school  age,  a  law  has  been 
enacted  (1887,  c.  433)  to  punish  by  fine  of  from  twenty 
to  fifty  dollars, 

"  Every  owner,  superintendent  or  overseer  of  any  manufactur- 
ing, mechanical  or  mercantile  establishment  who  employs,  or 
permits  to  be  employed  therein,  a  minor  under  fourteen  years 
of  age  who  cannot  read  and  write  in  the  English  language, 
except  during  the  vacation  of  the  public  schools  in  the  city  or 
town  where  such  minor  lives,  and  eveiy  parent  or  guardian  who 
permits  such  employment." 

The  employment  of  a  minor  of  foui'teen  or  over,  who 
cannot  read  or  write  English,  and  who  has  been  for 
one  year  a  continuous  resident  of  a  place  with  pubHc 
evening  schools,  and  is  not  a  regular  attendant  on  such 
schools,  is  punishable  by  a  fine  of  from  fifty  to  one 
hundred  dollars.  Suspension  of  the  law,  when  neces- 
sary to  prevent  hardship,  is  permitted  to  the  school 
committee. 


SOCIETY.  67 


SOCIETY. 

Gifts  to  Wives — Divorce  —  Abandoned  Children  — 
Tramps. 

But  few  laws  have  been  enacted  by  the  state  to 
affect  the  relations  of  her  citizens  to  each  other  as 
members  of  society.  Some  changes  relating  to  women 
are  to  be  noted.  They  may  practice  as  attorneys  at 
law  (1882,  c.  139).  As  such  they  may  be  appointed 
(1883,  c.  252)  to  administer  oaths,  to  take  depositions, 
and  to  take  acknowledgments  of  deeds.  They  may 
also  serve  as  overseers  of  the  poor  (1886,  c.  150). 
Gifts  to  them  from  their  husbands  are  to  be  their  sep- 
arate property,  by  the  following  law  of  1879  (c.  133): 

"The  wearing  apparel  and  articles  of  personal  ornament  of  a 
married  woman  and  articles  necessary  for  her  personal  use,  ac- 
quired by  gift  from  her  husband,  not  exceeding  two  thousand 
dollars  in  value,  shall  be  and  remain  her  sole  and  separate  prop- 
erty :  provided,  hoivever,  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be 
construed  to  authorize  suits  between  husljand  and  wife  or  to  make 
valid  any  gift  or  transfer  by  a  husband  in  fraud  of  his  creditors." 

Divorced  persons  have  been  the  subject  of  the  fol- 
lowing (1881,  c.  234): 


58  TEX  YEAHS   OF   ]yiASSACHT7SETTS. 

"  The  paity  against  whom  a  divorce  has  been  or  may  hereafter 
be  granted  shall  not  marry  within  two  years  from  the  time  of  the 
entry  of  the  final  decree  of  divorce  ;  at  the  expiration  of  said  two 
years  said  pavtj  may  marry  without  petition  to  the  coml." 

Abandoned  or  abused  cliildi'en,  under  fourteen  years, 
without  a  legally  appointed  guardian,  "  entirely  aban- 
doned, or  treated  with  gross  and  habitual  cruelty,  by 
the  parent  or  other  person  having  the  care  or  custody 
of  such  minor,"  or  illegally  deprived  of  liberty,  may 
be  put,  by  the  probate  court  of  the  county  (1879, 
c.  179),  under  the  care  of  the  Massachusetts  Society 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Cliildi'en  as  guardian. 
Parents  or  guardians  of  a  child  under  fourteen  years, 
unable  to  support  it,  may  give  the  custody  of  the  cliild 
to  the  same  society.  Any  child  under  five  years, 
found  abandoned,  may  be  put  in  the  custody  of  the 
society  for  thirty  days. 

It  was  not  until  1880,  after  the  turn  in  the  tide  of 
destitution  and  suffering  following  the  paper  money 
era  and  the  collapse  of  1873,  that  the  state  passed  a  law 
(c.  257)  to  jjrotect  the  people  from  tramps.  Tramps 
were  to  be  put  into  a  house  of  correction,  or  the 
Bridge  water  workhouse,  for  from  six  months  to  tw^o 
years. 

"  All  persons  who  rove  about  from  place  to  place,  begging,  or 
living  without  labor  or  visible  means  of  support,  shall  be  held  to 
be  tramps  within  the  meaning  of  this  act.     Any  act  of  begging  or 


SOCIETY.  69 

vagrancy  by  any  person  having  no  known  residence  within  this 
Commonwealth,  shall  be  imma  facie  evidence  that  the  person 
committing  the  same  is  a  tramp  within  the  meaning  of  this  act." 

The  act  did  not  apply  to  any  woman  or  minor  under 
seventeen  years,  nor  to  any  blind  person,  nor  to  any 
one  asking  charity  in  his  own  city  or  town.  Tramps 
could  be  arrested  without  warrant,  and  copies  of  the 
act  were  to  be  posted  in  at  least  six  conspicuous  places 
in  each  city  and  town.  Tramps  who  committed  other 
offences,  such  as  were  common  at  the  time  (entry  of 
premises,  injury  of  property,  threats  of  violence  and 
carrying  of  dangerous  weapons),  were  punishable  by 
imprisonment  for  from  one  to  two  years. 

Charitable  and  like  associations  were  given  more 
power  by  act  of  1882  (c.  195),  by  which  regular  pay- 
ments to  members,  or  to  persons  dependent  upon  them, 
might  be  made  for  not  over  six  months  at  one  time. 


60  TEN   YEAKS   OF   IVIASSACHUSETTS. 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH. 

Food  Adulteration — Water — Vinegar — Travellers — Fires 
—  Contagious  Diseases  —  Self  -  Injury  —  Children  m 
Shows — Cremation  . 

We  come  now  to  the  field  in  which  the  state  exer- 
cises care  over  the  lives  and  health  of  its  citizens,  and 
we  find  a  large  body  of  legislation  in  the  last  ten  years. 
The  state  undertakes  to  see  that  the  people  shall  not 
use  adulterated  food  or  drugs,  that  they  shall  be  safe 
while  travelling,  that  they  shall  not  live  in  unhealthy 
houses,  nor  be  exposed  to  contagious  diseases,  nor  be 
burned  in  fires,  nor  blown  up  by  explosives,  nor  have 
a  fairly  preventable  opportunity  to  injure  themselves. 
Laws  for  all  these  purposes  are  found  in  this  depart- 
ment, and,  in  one  view,  the  pharmacy  and  dentistry 
laws  above  mentioned  belong  here  also. 

We  notice  fii'st  the  precautions  against  adulterated 
food  and  drugs.  Such  laws  are  not  new,  and  the  new 
of  the  last  ten  years  are  additions,  showing  the  progress 
which  has  been  made  in  protecting  the  public  health. 
By  act  of  1878  (c.  76)  the  penalty  for  adulteration  (a 


LIFE   AND   HEALTH.  61 

year's  imprisonment  or  three  hundred  doHars'  fine) 
was  extended  to  the  person  furnishing  the  adulterating 
article,  in  addition  to  the  person  actually  making  the 
adulteration.  The  chief  recent  enactment  to  prevent 
the  adulteration  of  food  and  drugs  was  in  1882  (c.  263) 
and  it  was  thorough-going.  All  drugs  must  be  up  to 
the  standard  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopceia ;  food 
must  not  suffer  from  the  presence  of  inferior  material, 
nor  from  the  absence  of  valuable  portions,  nor  be  an 
imitation  of  another  article,  nor  have  any  diseased  or 
rotten  vegetable  matter,  nor  be  coated  to  appear  of 
more  than  its  real  value,  nor  contain  any  poisonous  in- 
gredient. The  enforcement  of  the  law  was  put  into 
the  hands  of  the  state  board  of  health,  lunacy  and 
charity,  and  it  was  given  three  thousand  dollars  a  year 
for  analyzing  samples  of  food  and  drugs.  The  bill 
was  bitterly  and  persistently  opposed  before  enactment, 
and  strenuous  attempts  were  made  to  minimize  the 
supposed  injury  from  adulterations.  The  next  year 
(1883,  c.  263)  the  appropriation  was  raised  to  five 
thousand  dollars  and  two  thousand  of  it  was  required 
to  be  sjDcnt  to  enforce  the  laws  against  the  adulteration 
of  milk.  In  1884  (c.  289)  the  sum  was  raised  to  ten 
thousand  dollars  and  six  thousand  of  it  required  to  be 
spent  to  prevent  the  adulteration  of  milk  and  milk 
products.  These  last  two  laws  indicate  the  sharp 
struggle  there  has  been  in  Massachusetts  to  preserve 


62  TEN  YEARS   OF   INIASSACHUSETTS. 

the  purity  of  milk.  By  act  of  1886  (c.  171)  "drug" 
ill  the  law  of  1882  includes  all  medicines,  antiseptics, 
disinfectants  and  cosmetics,  and  "food"  includes  "con- 
fectionery, condiments  and  all  articles  used  for  food  or 
diiiik  by  man." 

The  competition  of  western  lard,  alleged  to  be  in- 
ferior, and  less  nutritious  and  healthful,  led  to  the 
enactment  (1887,  c.  449)  of  the  law  that  any  lard 
with  any  ingredient  but  the  pure  fat  of  s-\\dne  must 
be  plainly  labelled  "compound  lard." 

The  sharpest  contest  over  any  food  adulteration  has 
been  made  over  adulterated  milk  and  into  that  contest 
have  entered  both  commercial  and  sanitary  forces. 
The  milk  adulterators  have  exerted  themselves  in 
every  possible  way  to  break  down  the  standard  of 
thirteen  per  cent,  of  solids.  The  milk  producers  and 
wholesalers  have  generally  insisted  uj^on  the  high 
standard.  The  opposition  has  for  the  most  part  come 
from  retailers  of  Boston  and  vicinity.  A  strong  incen- 
tive to  enforce  the  law  for  pure  milk  has  been  the  large 
number  of  infant  lives  which  have  been  sacrificed  in 
Boston  alone  to  adulterated  milk.  Then,  agam,  the 
"  oleo  "  men  have  protested  against  any  law  which  shall 
enable  the  consumer  to  distinguish  readily  between 
genuine  butter  and  "oleo"  at  the  table.  These  two 
matters  are  still  subjects  of  keen  controversy. 

In  1878  (c.  106)  was  enacted  a  strict  law  against 


LIFE  AND   HEALTH.  63 

butter  not  the  product  of  milk  exclusively,  and  the  sale 
or  preparation  of  a  manufactui-ed  compound  product, 
unless  plainly"  marked  "  oleomargarine,"  was  made  pun- 
ishable by  one  hundred  dollars'  fine.  A  long  bill  to 
regulate  the  inspection  and  sale  of  milk  was  enacted 
in  1880  (c.  209),  giving  officers  powers  of  inspection 
and  seizure  and  imposing  heavy  fines.  In  1881  (c.  292) 
was  enacted  a  stringent  law  to  prevent  deception  in 
sales  of  butter  and  cheese,  requiring  the  words  "oleo- 
margarine" or  "imitation  cheese"  to  be  plainly  put 
on  each  packageT  This  law  also  provided  heavy  pen- 
alties. In  1881  (c.  310)  the  previous  laws  were 
made  more  stringent,  as  experience  had  shown  to  be 
necessary  to  checkmate  the  adulterators.  Again  in 
1885  (c.  352)  the  law  for  the  protection  of  good  milk 
and  butter  was  revised  and  strengthened,  still  in  the 
interest  of  the  public  health  and  honest  products.  But 
this  was  not  enough  and  in  1886  (c.  317)  was  enacted 
a  further  law  to  regulate  the  sale  of  imitation  butter 
and  another  (c.  318)  to  increase  the  powers  of  milk 
inspectors  and  to  make  the  punishment  of  adulteration 
more  certain  and  severe.  During  these  latter  years 
the  state  board  of  health  had  been  most  active  and 
efficient  in  prosecuting  dealers  in  adulterated  milk. 
The  butter  law  is  so  enforced  that  customers  of  re- 
tailers may  know  when  they  buy  "oleo,"  but  at  the 
session  of  1887,  a  bill  to  color  the  article  so  that  such 


64  TEN   YEARS   OF  IVIASSACHUSETTS. 

persons  as  the  j^atrons  of  boarding-houses  would  know 
when  they  were  eating  it  was  successfully  resisted. 

The  state  also  has  care  for  the  purity  of  its  water 
supplies.  In  1878  (c.  183)  an  elaborate  bill  was  passed 
to  prevent  the  discharge  of  any  sewage  or  drainage 
where  it  could  run  into  any  stream  or  pond  used  as  a 
source  of  water  supjjly.  General  supervision  of  all 
streams  and  ponds  of  the  state  used  as  sources  of  water 
supply,  except  the  Merrimack,  Connecticut  and  Con- 
cord rivers,  was  given  to  the  state  board  of  health.  By 
a  law  of  1879  (c.  270)  water  boards,  commissioners 
and  companies  are  required  to  make  full  triennial  re- 
turns to  the  state  board  of  health  of  the  character,  ex- 
tent and  amount  of  their  water  supply,  its  use  (by  how 
many  families  and  their  averags  consumption),  sewage, 
method  of  distribution,  and  many  other  details  to  the 
end  that  the  state  may  have  full  information  concerning 
its  water  supply.  These  facts  are  to  be  reported  to  the 
legislature.  Bathing  in  a  pond  used  for  water  supply 
is  forbidden  (1884,  c.  172)  under  ten  dollars'  fine. 
By  act  of  1886  (c.  274)  the  state  board  of  health  is 
given  "the  general  oversight  and  care  of  all  inland 
waters"  and  it  must  recommend  legislation  for  the 
preservation  of  the  public  health  and  for  the  purity 
of  all  the  inland  waters  of  the  state.  The  board  is 
also  empowered  (1886,  c.  287)  to  prevent  the  sale  of 
impure  ice. 


LIFE  AJSTD   HEALTH.  65 

Vinegar  has  also  been  the  subject  of  legislation  for 
purity  (1880,  c.  113),  and  selling  as  cider  vinegar  that 
which  is  not  so  is  punishable  by  fine  of  from  fifty  to 
one  hundi'ed  dollars,  and  the  use  of  lead,  copper,  sul- 
phuric acid  or  other  injiuious  ingredient  is  punishable 
by  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars'  fuie.  By  the  laws 
of  1881  and  of  1885  (cs.  307  and  150)  the  proportions 
of  acetic  acid  and  vinegar  solids  are  regulated  and 
other  stringent  restrictions  are  added. 

Massachusetts  is  as  careful  of  her  people  when  travel- 
ling as  when  at  their  homes,  and  has  legislated  lately 
for  their  protection  on  the  rail.  In  1881  (c.  194)  was 
passed  a  law,  after  several  years  of  agitation,  especially 
by  Dr.  B.  Joy  Jeffries  of  Boston,  forbidding  railroad 
companies  to  employ  any  person  in  a  position  requiring 
him  to  distinguish  form  and  color  signals,  unless  he  has 
been  examined  within  two  years  and  has  a  certificate 
that  he  has  not  color-blindness  or  other  defective  sight. 
By  act  of  1883  (c.  125)  the  two  years'  provision  was 
removed.  In  1882,  after  one  of  the  terrible  warnings 
which  are  so  familiar  from  the  wreck  of  passenger 
trains  and  the  great  loss  of  human  life  by  crushing  and 
burning,  the  legislature  required  every  railroad  corpo- 
ration to 

"  — equip  each  ear  of  every  passenger  train,  owned  or  regularly 
used  by  it,  including  mail  and  baggage  cars,  with  two  sets  of 
tools,  consisting  of  an  axe,  a  sledge-hammer,  a  crowbar,  hand- 
saw and  pail.     All  such  tools  and  appliances  shall  be  maintained 

5 


66  TEN   YEARS    OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

in  good  condition  for  use  in  case  of  accident,  and  shall  be  kept 
one  set  upon  the  inside  and  one  upon  the  outside  of  each  such 
car." 

Tampering  with  these  tools  is  punishable  by  one 
hundred  dollars'  fine  or  three  months'  imprisonment, 
or  both.  But  the  frightful  wreck  at  Bussey  bridge, 
within  the  limits  of  Boston,  in  March,  1887,  produced 
more  radical  legislation.  One  law  (c.  334)  compels 
every  railroad  corporation  to  have  its  bridges  examined 
once  in  two  years  by  a  competent  engineer,  whose 
reports  must  be  sent  to  the  railroad  commissioners. 
Another    (c.  362)  abolishes  the  "deadly  car  stove." 

"  No  passenger,  mail  or  baggage  car  on  any  i-aih'oad  in  this 
Commonwealth  shall  be  heated  by  any  method  of  heating  or  by 
any  furnace  or  heater  unless  such  method  or  the  use  of  such  fur- 
nace or  heater  shall  first  have  been  approved  in  writing  by 
the  board  of  railroad  commissioners :  provided,  however,  that  in 
no  event  shall  a  common  stove  be  allowed  in  any  such  car ;  and 
provided,  also,  that  any  railroad  corporation  may  with  the  per- 
mission of  said  boai'd  make  such  experiments  in  heating  their 
passenger  cars  as  said  board  may  deem  proper." 

The  testing  of  locomotive  boilers  is  under  the  charge 
of  the  railroad  commissioners  (1882,  c.  73)  and  the  use 
of  an  untested  boiler  is  punishable  by  a  fine  of  twenty 
dollars  per  day. 

The  raih'oad  commissioners  may  order  a  railroad 
corporation  to  estabUsh  gates  and  a  flagman  at  any 
grade  crossing  they  see  fit  (1883,  c.  117).  Blockades 
of   grade    crossings    by  railroad    cars,    to    the    incon- 


LIFE   AND   HEALTH,  67 

venience  and  danger  of  the  public,  are  put  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  raih'oad  commissioners  (1885, 
c.  110). 

By  law  of  1881  (c.  199)  the  penalty  upon  a  railroad 
corporation  for  negligence  by  which  the  life  of  a  pass- 
enger, or  other  person  not  an  employee,  is  lost,  is  from 
five  hundred  to  five  thousand  dollars ;  but  the  law  does 
not  apply  to  persons  walking  upon  the  track  contrary 
to  the  rules  of  the  corporation.  The  same  law  applies 
to  steamboat  and  stage-coach  companies,  but  the  loss 
of  life  from  defective  highways  or  bridges  of  a  county 
or  town  does  not  carry  but  one  thousand  dollars'  pen- 
alty. The  above  chapter  provides  the  means  of  recov- 
ering damages  for  loss  of  life  or  for  injury.  A  law 
of  1880  (c.  110)  makes  a  special  crime  of  throwing 
missiles  at  cars  and  at  passengers  in  steam  or  horse 
cars,  or  interfering  with  persons  in  charge  of  such 
cars. 

Street  railway  corporations  are  made  liable  (1886, 
c.  140)  for  the  death  of  a  passenger,  or  any  person 
not  an  employee,  to  the  extent  of  not  less  than  five 
hundred  nor  more  than  five  thousand  dollars. 

The  state  also  protects  its  people  against  explosives 
and  combustibles.  A  law  of  1881  (c.  137)  forbids 
explosive  or  inflammable  compounds  to  be  so  placed 
in  manufactories  as  to  obstruct  or  render  hazardous 
egress  from  them.     No  petroleum  or  its  product  can 


68  TEN   YEAP.S   OF   IMASSACHTJSETTS. 

be  kept  for  retail  (1885,  c.  122)  unless  approved  by 
an  official  inspector.  The  mixing  and  sale  of  naphtha 
and  fuel  oils  is  made  (1885,  c.  98)  the  subject  of  care- 
ful regulations,  under  heavy  penalties.  Warned  by 
the  loss  of  life  in  hotel  fires,  an  enactment  was  made, 
in  1883  (c.  251),  that 

"Every  keeper  of  a  hotel,  boarding  or  lodging  house  contain- 
ing one  hundred  or  more  rooms,  and  being  fom*  or  more  stories 
high,  shall  have  therem  at  least  two  competent  watchmen,  each 
properly  assigned,  and  each  on  duty  between  the  hours  of  nine 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  and  six  o'clock  in  the  forenoon.  And 
every  keeper  of  a  hotel,  boarding  or  lodging  house  containing 
fifty  or  more,  but  less  than  one  hundred  rooms,  and  being  three 
stories  high,  shall  have  between  said  hours  at  least  one  compe- 
tent watchman  on  duty  therein." 

A  red  light  is  to  stand  at  the  head  and  foot  of  each 
flight  of  stairs.  Alarms  or  gongs  are  to  be  conven- 
iently placed.  Posted  notices  as  to  these  matters  are 
to  be  conspicuous.  School  buildings  over  three  stories 
high,  and  manufacturing  establishments  of  that  height, 
are  to  be  well  supplied  with  fire-escapes,  which  must 
be  kept  in  good  order.  Improved  automatic  appli- 
ances may  also  be  used  (1884,  c.  223).  Tenement 
and  lodging  houses,  three  or  more  stories  high,  must 
be  provided  (1882,  c.  266)  with  sufficient  fire-escapes, 
to  be  approved  by  the  inspector  of  factories  and  public 
buildings. 

The  state's  regard  for  life  and  health  extends  to 
buildings,  both  their   mechanical  construction  (1878, 


LITE   AND   HEALTH.  69 

c.  47)  and  their  sanitary  arrangements  (1885,  c.  374 
and  382  for  Boston)  in  full  detail.  Elevators  are  to 
be  provided  with  safety  apparatus  (1882,  c.  208),  and 
must  be  placarded  and  stopped  when  unsafe  (1883, 
c.  173).  Wooden  flues  or  air  ducts  are  forbidden 
(1885,  c.  326)  in  certain  cases. 

Contagious  diseases  have  received  the  continued 
care  of  the  state.  Local  boards  of  health,  notified  of 
a  case  of  small-pox,  must  notify  the  state  board  within 
twenty-four  hours  (1883,  c.  138).  If  a  householder 
knows  that  a  person  in  his  family  has  a  contagious 
disease  dangerous  to  j)ublic  health,  he  must  (1884, 
c.  98)  notify  the  local  board  of  health  or  selectmen  at 
once,  and  on  the  death  or  recovery  of  the  person  must 
disinfect  the  room  and  articles,  under  one  hundi-ed 
dollars'  penalty.  Physicians,  under  penalty  of  from 
fifty  to  two  hundred  dollars,  must  notify  the  author- 
ities of  dangerous  contagious  diseases  in  their  practice. 

"  The  school  committees  shall  not  allow  any  pu]Dil  to  attend  the 
public  schools  while  any  member  of  the  household  to  which  such 
pupil  belongs  is  sick  of  small-jiox,  diphtheria,  or  scarlet  fever,  or 
dm'ing  a  period  of  two  weeks  after  the  death,  recovery  or  removal 
of  such  sick  person ;  and  any  pujiil  coming  from  such  household 
shall  be  required  to  present  to  the  teacher  of  the  school  the  pujDil 
desires  to  attend,  a  certificate,  from  the  attending  physician  or 
board  of  health,  of  the  facts  necessaiy  to  entitle  him  to  admission 
in  accordance  with  the  above  regulation'"  (1885,  c.  198). 

Protection  against  self-injury  is  another  care  of  the 
state ;    hence   the   laws   to   regulate    the   sale   of   toy 


70  TEN   YEARS   OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

pistols  and  other  dangerous  articles  (1882,  c.  272),  to 
prohibit  the  sale  of  fire-arms  and  other  dangerous 
weapons  to  minors  (1884,  c.  76),  and  to  regulate  the 
sale  and  use  of  poisons  (1887,  c.  38).  The  first  was 
caused  by  repeated  fatal  accidents  to  children  from 
jjlaying  with  toy  pistols,  and  the  last  was  the  outcome 
of  frequent  instances  of  suicide  by  the  use  of  "  rough 
on  rats." 

Delicate  nerves  have  received  the  compassion  of  the 
state,  and  a  law  of  1879  (c.  284)  reqiures  the  use  of 
a  muffler  or  other  appliance  to  deaden  the  noise  from 
operating  vacuum  brakes  or  from  "a  pop  or  other 
safety  valve,"  under  penalty  of  from  one  hundred  to 
three  hundred  dollars  for  every  locomotive,  and  a  fui- 
ther  fine  of  five  dollars  "a  day.  The  railroad  com- 
missioners are  empowered  (1885,  c.  334)  to  forbid  or 
regulate  the  use  of  locomotive  whistles  at  grade 
crossings. 

A  few  years  ago  a  strong  public  feeling  was  aroused 
against  the  employment  of  children  on  the  theatrical 
stage,  the  objection  having  to  do  both  with  morals 
and  physical  health,  and  a  law  was  passed  (1880, 
c.  88)  that 

"  Xo  license  shall  be  granted  for  any  theatiical  exhibition  or 
public  show  in  which  children  under  the  age  of  fifteen  years  and 
belonging  to  the  public  schools  are  employed  or  allowed  to  take 
part  as  performers  on  the  stage  in  any  capacity,  or  where  in  the 
opinion  of  the  board  authorized  to  grant  licenses  such  children 


LIFE  AND   HEALTH.  71 

are  employed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  coiTupt  their  morals  or  im- 
pair their  physical  health." 

After  the  life  has  departed,  the  state  does  not  give 
up  its  care.  Burial  is  not  permitted  till  the  facts  of 
the  death  are  recorded  (1878,  c.  174)  according  to  the 
latest  ideas.  Cremation  is  permitted  (1885,  c.  265) 
by  the  law  for  the  formation  of  corporations  for  that 
purpose,  but 

"  No  body  of  a  deceased  person  shall  be  cremated  within  forty- 
eight  hours  after  decease,  unless  death  was  occasioned  by  conta- 
gious or  infectious  disease ;  and  no  body  shall  be  received  or 
cremated  by  said  corjooration  until  its  officers  have  received  the 
certificate  or  burial  permit  required  by  law  before  burial,  together 
with  a  certificate  from  the  medical  examiner  of  the  district  within 
Avhich  the  death  occurred,  that  he  has  viewed  the  body  and  made 
personal  inquiry  into  the  cause  and  manner  of  death,  and  is  of 
opinion  that  no  further  examination  nor  judicial  inquiry  concern- 
ing the  same  is  necessary." 


72  TEN   YEABS  OF  JVIASSACHUSETTS. 


LABOR  LEGISLATION. 

Factory  Laws — Weekly  Payments — Arbitration — Ejiploy- 
ERS'  Liability — Frogs  and  Savitches — Women  and  ^Minors 
— SpecL'VL  Stock — Convict  Labor — Labor  Day — Voting 
— Peoples'  Homes. 

WiTEmsr  the  decade  legislation  in  the  interest  of 
employees  of  large  corporations,  or  labor  legislation,  so 
called,  has  been  unusually  prominent.  Especially  true 
is  this  of  the  sessions  of  1886  and  1887,  when  the 
"labor  scare"  among  politicians  prevailed,  following 
the  rapid  growth  of  the  Knights  of  Labor.  More  labor 
laws  were  passed  in  those  two  years  than  in  the  other 
eight.  Material  progress  was  then  made  in  laws  to 
protect  the  lives,  health  and  property  of  employees  and 
to  settle  their  difficulties  with  their  employers. 

But  in  the  early  j^ears  of  the  ten  some  laws  of  this 
class  were  passed.  The  most  important  relate  to  man- 
ufacturing establishments  chiefly.  The  law  of  1874 
that  no  minors  under  eighteen  years  and  no  women 
should  be  employed  in  manufacturing  establishments 
over  ten  hours  a  day  was  amended  in  1880  (c.  194)  by 
requiring  a  conspicuous  notice  of  the  hours  such  help 


LABOR  LEGISLATION.  73 

must  work  on  each  day  of  the  week  to  be  posted  in 
every  room  where  they  are  employed.  A  law  of  1886 
(c.  90)  requires  the  notice  to  include  the  time  of  begin- 
ning and  stopping  work,  the  time  to  be  allowed  for 
stopping  and  starting  machinery  and  the  time  taken 
for  dinner. 

To  guard  the  employees  of  manufacturing  establish- 
ments and  workshops  from  fire,  it  was  provided  by  act 
of  1880  (c.  197)  that  every  room  in  such  places,  where 
five  or  more  operatives  are  employed  above  the  second 
story,  shall  have  more  than  one  egress,  either  inside  or 
outside,  and  as  near  as  practicable  at  opposite  ends  of 
the  room.  A  later  act  (1884,  c.  52)  says  that  "no  out- 
side or  inside  doors  of  any  building,  wherein  operatives 
are  employed,  shall  be  so  locked,  bolted  or  otherwise 
fastened  during  the  hours  of  labor  as  to  prevent  free 
egress." 

To  illustrate  how  labor  laws  are  sometimes  enacted, 
the  following  is  worth  notice:  In  1882  certain  em- 
ployees in  Plymouth  felt  aggrieved  that  their  early 
morning  bell,  or  "rousing  bell,"  was  no  longer  rung. 
Petitions  for  such  ringing  were  circulated  in  their  own 
and  other  factories  and  the  result  was  a  law  (1883, 
c.  84)  allowing  employers  to  give  notice  to  their  em- 
ployees by  bells,  whistles  and  gongs,  subject  to  the 
regulation  of  the  local  authorities — much  to  the  dis- 
comfiture of  tlie  individual  who,  in  the  first  place,  had 


74  TEN   YEAES   OF   INIASSACHUSETTS. 

the  rousing  bell  discontinued  so  as  not  to  disturb  his 
morning  nap. 

In  1886,  under  the  impulse  of  accidents  to  operatives 
from  being  caught  in  machinery  and  being  badly  lacer- 
ated or  killed  before  the  machinery  could  be  stopped, 
it  was  enacted  (c.  173)  that — 

"  In  every  manufacturing  establishment  where  the  machineiy 
used  is  propelled  by  steam,  communication  shall  be  provided 
between  each  room  where  such  machinery  is  placed  and  tlie  room 
where  the  engineer  is  stationed,  b}^  means  of  speaking  tubes, 
electric  bells  or  such  other  means  as  shall  be  satisfactory  to  the 
insiiectors  of  factoines :  jyrovided,  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  in- 
spectors such  commmiication  is  necessary." 

In  the  line  of  result  from  the  same  cause  was  the 
act  (1886,  c.  260)  requiring  all  manufacturers  (persons 
or  corporations)  to  send  to  the  chief  of  the  district 
police  a  written  notice  of  an  accident  to  an  employee 
resulting  in  death  or  injury  sufficient  to  cause  four 
days'  absence  from  work.  The  record  of  such  accidents 
is  to  be  presented  in  the  annual  report  of  the  chief. 

In  1887  especial  attention  was  given  to  the  privileges 
and  rights  of  factory  operatives  and  the  legislative 
leader  in  this  respect  was  Mr.  Quincy  of  Quincy. 
Most  of  the  important  bills  were  drawn  by  his  own 
hand  and  were  advocated  more  by  him  than  by  any 
other  member.  Detailed  provision  is  made  by  chap- 
ter 103  for  the  proper  sanitary  condition  of  factories 
and  workshops,  under  one  hundred  dollars'  penalty,  and 


LABOR   LEGISLATION.  75 

such  condition  is  made  part  of  tlie  care  of  the  factory 
inspectors,  while  the  enforcement  of  the  law  rests  with 
the  local  board  of  health.  A  subsequent  chapter 
(c.  173)  provides  for  the  proper  ventilation  of  factories 
and  workshops  so  as  to  remove  all  injurious  "gases, 
vapors,  dust  or  other  impurities,"  under  penalty  of  one 
hundred  dollars. 

The  evil  of  hurried  and  irregular  meal  hours  was  the 
object  of  chapter  215  (1887)  and  it  enacts  that  "all 
children,  young  persons  and  women,  five  or  more  in 
number,  employed  in  the  same  factory,  shall  be  allowed 
their  meal  time  or  meal  times  at  the  same  time."  Ex- 
ceptions are  allowed  for  persons  beginning  work  at 
different  times, 

" — but  no  such  children,  young  persons  or  women  shall  be  em- 
ployed during  the  regular  meal  hour  in  tending  the  machines,  or 
doing  the  work  of  any  other  children,  young  persons  or  women 
in  addition  to  their  own,"  and 

"No  child,  young  person  or  woman  shall  be  employed  in  a 
factory  or  workshop,  in  which  five  or  more  children,  young  per- 
sons and  women  are  employed,  for  more  than  six  hours  at  one 
time  without  an  interval  of  at  least  half  an  hour  for  a  meal," 

with  certain  exceptions  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of 
the  act.  This  act  does  not  apply  to  iron  works,  glass 
works,  paper  mills,  letter-press  printing  establishments, 
print  works,  bleaching  works  or  dyeing  works.  The 
chief  of  the  district  police  may  at  his  discretion,  where 
it  is  proved  to  be  necessary,  with  the  approval  of  the 


76  TEN  YEAES   OF   IMASSACHUSETTS. 

governor,  issue  a  certificate  of  exemption  from  tlie  law. 
The  penalty  of  violating  tlie  law  is  from  fifty  to  one 
hundred  dollars.  The  owner  is  not  to  be  held  respon- 
sible (1887,  c.  330)  for  work  in  violation  of  the  law, 
and  without  the  knowlege  of  the  employer,  by  any 
minor  under  eighteen  or  by  any  woman. 

The  powers  of  factory  inspectors  have  been  en- 
larged (1887,  c.  218)  to  include  all  the  new  duties 
imposed  upon  them  as  to  sanitary  condition  and  venti- 
lation of  factories  and  workshops,  the  employment  of 
women  and  minors  and  precautions  against  fires. 

In  order  to  protect  operatives  from  fines  for  imper- 
fect wearing,  a  law  has  been  passed  (1887,  c.  361) 
putting  the  imposition  of  such  fines  under  strict  regu- 
lation, tending  to  make  weavers  more  watchful,  and 
the  fine  is  in  no  case  to  exceed  the  actual  damage  to 
the  employer. 

♦'No  child  under  the  age  of  fourteen  years  shall  be  permitted 
to  clean  any  part  of  the  machinery  in  a  factory  while  such  part  is 
in  motion  by  the  aid  of  steam,  water  or  other  mechanical  power, 
or  to  clean  any  jiart  of  such  machinery  that  is  in  dangerous  prox- 
imity to  such  moving  part"  (1887,  c.  121). 

One  of  the  most  protracted  labor  contests  was  that 
for  weekly  payments  of  wages  to  employees  of  corpora- 
tions. Year  after  5'ear  the  petitions  were  presented, 
but  only  to  be  defeated.  Fortnightly  payments  bills 
were  introduced,  but  they  shared  the  same  fate.     The 


LABOR   LEGISLATIOISr.  77 

especial  opponents  of  tlie  change  were  tlie  great  cotton 
manufacturing  corporations,  and  they  had  their  agents 
at  the  state  house  to  prove  to  the  legislature  that 
it  was  impossible  to  make  the  change.  But  it  was 
learned  that  the  system  was  followed  by  some  mills 
successfully.  The  petitioners  were  persistent  and  fin- 
ally the  opposition  ceased  for  the  most  part  and  the 
law  was  enacted  (1886,  c.  87) : 

"Every  manufacturing,  mining  or  quarrying,  mercantile,  rail- 
road, sti'eet  railway,  telegraph,  telephone  and  municipal  corpora- 
tion and  eveiy  incorporated  express  company  and  water  company 
shall  pay  weekly  each  and  eveiy  employee  engaged  in  its  busi- 
ness the  wages  earned  by  such  employee  to  within  six  days  of  the 
date  of  said  payment :  provided,  however,  that  if  at  any  time  of 
payment  any  employee  shall  be  absent  from  his  regular  place  of 
labor  he  shall  be  entitled  to  said  payment  at  any  time  thereafter 
upon  demand." 

The  penalty  for  violating  the  law  was  fixed  at  from 
ten  to  fifty  dollars.  In  1887  (c.  399)  every  municipal 
corporation  and  every  incorporated  county  were  also 
put  under  law.  Railroad  corporations,  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  railroad  commissioners,  may  be  exempt  from 
weekly  payments  to  such  employees  as  prefer  less  fre- 
quent payments,  when  their  interests  and  the  public's 
will  not  suffer.  The  chief  of  the  district  police,  or 
any  factory  inspector,  is  allowed  to  bring  complaint 
against  any  corporation  for  violation  of  the  law.  This 
act  was  anticipated  in  part  by  th'at  of  1879  (c.  128) 
requiring   all  cities  to  make  weekly  payments  to  all 


78  TEN   YEARS    OF   IMASSACHUSETTS. 

tlieir  laborers  who  demand  them,  who  are  not  given 

over  two  dollars  a  day. 

We  come  now  to  a  radical  and  important  departure 

in  labor  legislation — the  "act  to  provide  for  a  state 

board  of  arbitration  for  the  settlement  of  differences 

between  employers  and  their  employees  "  (1886,  c.  263). 

As  it  marks  a  decided  step  of  development,  it  is  worth 

noticing  in  some  detail,  with  its  amendments  of  1887 

(c.  269).     Section  1  provides  for  the  appointment  by 

the  governor  of  three  competent  persons  to  serve  as 

"  a  state  board  of  arbitration  and  conciliation."    One  of 

the  board  must  be  an  employer,  or  from  an  association 

representing  employers  of  labor.     One  must  be  from 

a  labor  organization  and  not  an  employer  of   labor. 

The  third  is  to  be  appointed  on  recommendation  of 

the  other  two,  or,  if  they  do  not  agree  within  thirty 

days,  by  the  governor,  without  their  recommendation. 

The  governor  can  fill  vacancies  and  make  removals. 

Section  2  requires  the  board  to  establish  rules,  subject 

to  the  approval  of  the  governor  and  council.     Section 

3  is  the  most  important  of  the  law,  and  is  as  follows : 

"  Whenever  any  controversy  or  difference,  not  involving  ques- 
tions which  may  be  the  sulijeet  of  a  suit  at  law  or  bill  in  equity, 
exists  between  an  employer,  whetlier  an  individual,  copartnership 
or  coi-poration,  and  his  emploj^ees,  if  at  tlie  time  he  employs  not 
less  than  twenty-five  jDersons  in  the  same  general  line  of  business 
in  any  city  or  town  in  this  Commonwealth,  tlie  board  shall,  upon 
application  as  hereinafter  provided,  and  as  soon  as  practicable 
thereafter,  visit  the  locality  of  the  dispute  and  make  careful  in- 


LABOR   LEGISLATION.  79 

quiiy  into  the  cause  thereof,  hear  all  persons  interested  therein 
who  may  come  before  them,  advise  the  respective  parties  what,  if 
anything,  ought  to  be  done  or  submitted  to  by  either  or  both  to 
adjust  said  dispute,  and  make  a  written  decision  thereof.  This 
decision  shall  at  once  be  made  public,  shall  be  recorded  ujion 
projjer  books  of  record  to  be  kept  by  the  secretary  of  said  board, 
and  a  short  statement  thereof  published  in  the  annual  report 
hereinafter  provided  for,  and  the  said  board  shall  cause  a  copy 
thereof  to  be  filed  with  the  clerk  of  the  city  or  town  where  said 
business  is  carried  on." 

Section  4  (1887)  prescribes  tlie  method  of  application 
to  the  board.  The  application  is  to  be  signed  by 
the  employer,  or  by  a  majority  of  the  employees  in  the 
department  where  the  controversy  exists,  or  by  their 
agent,  or  by  both  parties,  must  give  a  concise  state- 
ment of  grievances  and  a  promise  to  continue  the 
business  or  work  without  lock-out  or  strike  until  the 
decision  of  the  board,  if  it  is  within  three  weeks.  The 
names  of  employees  represented  by  an  agent  are  to  be 
kept  secret  by  the  board.  Public  notice  of  the  time 
and  place  of  the  hearing  is  to  be  given,  unless  both 
parties  request  otherwise.  If  the  applicants  fail  to 
keep  their  promise,  the  board  shall  not  go  on  without 
the  written  consent  of  the  other  party.  Witnesses 
may  be  examined  under  oath,  and  books  with  record 
of  wages  paid  be  required  to  be  produced.  Section  5 
provides  for  publishing  the  decision.  Section  6  says 
that  the  decision  shall  be  binding  for  six  months  on 
the  parties  who  join  the  application,  "or  until  either 


80  TEN  YEAES    OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

party  has  given  the  other  notice  in  writing  of  his 
intention  not  to  be  bound  by  the  same  at  the  expira- 
tion of  sixty  days  therefrom."  Section  7,  by  act  of 
1887,  is  much  changed  from  section  7  of  1886.  It 
allows  the  parties  to  submit  their  dispute  to  a  local 
board  of  arbitration  and  conciliation,  to  be  selected, 
one  by  each  party,  and  the  tliird  by  the  other  two, 
which  board  shall  have  all  the  powers  of  the  state 
board  in  like  case.  When  mayors  or  boards  of  select- 
men are  informed  that  a  strike  or  lock-out  is  likely  to 
occur,  or  is  in  progress,  they  must  at  once  notify  the 
state  board  of  the  facts.  Section  8,  by  act  of  1887, 
provides  that  in  case  of  such  notice  to  the  state  board, 

"  — it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  state  board  to  put  itself  in  com- 
miinieation  as  soon  as  may  be  with  such  employer  and  employees, 
and  endeavor  by  mediation  to  effect  an  amicable  settlement  be- 
tn^een  them,  or  to  endeavor  to  persuade  them,  provided  that  a 
sti-ike  or  Jock-out  has  not  actually  occurred  or  is  not  then  continu- 
ing, to  submit  the  matters  in  dispute  to  a  local  board  of  arbitra- 
tion and  conciliation,  as  above  provided,  or  to  the  state  board; 
and  said  state  board  may,  if  it  deems  it  advisable,  investigate  tlie 
cause  or  causes  of  such  controversy  and  ascertain  which  paity 
thereto  is  mainly  resjDonsible  or  blameworthy  for  the  existence 
or  continuance  of  the  same,  and  maj  make  and  publish  a  report 
finding  such  cause  or  causes  and  assigning  such  responsibility 
or  blame." 

Sections  9  and  10  provide  for  compensation  of  wit- 
nesses and  of  the  board. 

Immediately  following  ihis  chaj)ter  in  the  laws  of 
1887  is  another  (c.  270),  which  also  marks  a  radical 


LABOR  LEGISLATION.  81 

departure.  It  is  the  famous  employers'  liability  law, 
which  was  fought  on  both  sides  for  years  with  great 
skill  and  persistence.  Like  some  other  laws,  it  appears 
to  owe  its  existence,  at  as  early  a  date  as  the  present, 
to  the  conviction  of  one  man  that  it  was  necessary  to 
right  a  wrong,  and  that  man,  by  his  enthusiasm  and 
untiring  effort,  has  converted  the  majority.  In  this 
case  that  one  man  was  Mr.  Charles  G.  Fall,  a  young 
Boston  lawyer.  Striking  instances  were  narrated,  year 
after  year,  of  great  wrong  to  persons  and  suffering  to 
families  because  an  injured  employee  could  not  recover 
damages.  Mr.  Fall  had  the  support  from  the  begin- 
ning of  those  representing  the  employees  to  be  bene- 
fited, but  was  opposed  by  the  great  corporations,  by 
the  conservatism  of  capital  in  its  relation  to  labor,  and 
by  contractors.  This  law,  also,  is  worthy  of  mention 
in  detail,  because  it  introduces  a  new  featui'e  in  the 
practice  of  the  state. 

Section  1  gives  the  injured  employee,  who  was  in 
the  exercise  of  due  care  and  diligence  (or,  if  the 
injury  was  fatal,  his  legal  representative),  the  same 
right  of  compensation  and  remedies  against  the  em- 
ployer as  if  the  employee  had  not  been  in  his  service, 
under  these  conditions :  when  he  was  injured, 

"  (1)  By  reason  of  any  defect  in  the  condition  of  the  ways, 
works  or  machinery  connected  with  or  used  in  the  business  of  the 
employer,  whlcli  arose  from  or  had  not  been  discovered  or  reme- 


82  TEN  YEARS   OF   IVLASSACHUSETTS. 

died  owing  to  the  negligence  of  the  employei*  or  of  any  pei'son 
in  the  service  of  the  employer,  and  entrusted  by  him  with  the  duty 
of  seeing  that  the  ways,  works  or  machinery  were  in  proper  con- 
dition ;  or 

"  (2)  By  reason  of  the  negligence  of  any  person  in  the  service 
of  the  employer,  entrusted  with  and  exercising  superintendence, 
whose  sole  or  i^rincipal  duty  is  that  of  superintendence. 

"  (3)  By  reason  of  the  negligence  of  any  pei'son  in  the  service 
of  the  employer  who  has  the  charge  or  control  of  any  signal, 
switch,  locomotive  engine  or  train  upon  a  railroad." 

Section  2  provides  that,  in  case  of  instant  death,  the 
widow  or  next  of  kin  dependent  upon  the  employee's 
wages  may  have  the  same  rights  as  if  the  death  had 
not  been  instantaneous,  or  as  if  the  deceased  had  con- 
sciously suffered.  Section  3  limits  the  compensation 
for  personal  injury  to  four  thousand  dollars,  and  for 
death  at  from  five  hundred  to  five  thousand  dollars, 
and  provides  the  formalities  for  legal  action.  Sec- 
tion 4  covers  the  cases  of  contractors  and  sub-contract- 
ors to  insure  his  rights  to  the  employee.  Section  5 
debars  from  the  benefit  of  the  act  any  employee  who 
knew  of  the  defect  which  caused  the  injury  and  did 
not  give  notice  of  it  to  his  employer  or  to  a  superior. 
Section  6  allows  a  part  of  the  damages  recoverable  to 
be  offset  by  the  amount  the  employee  has  received 
from  any  insurance  fund  or  other  relief  fund  which 
was  contributed  by  his  employer.  Section  7  is  that 
the  act  shall  not  aj)j)ly  to  injuries  caused  to  domestic 
servants  or  farm  laborers  by  fellow-employees. 


LABOR  LEGISLATION.  83 

Preceding  this  law  by  a  few  weeks  (1887,  c.  130) 
was  the  act  to  incorporate  the  American  Mutual  Lia- 
bility insurance  company  from  some  of  the  best  known 
business  men  of  the  state, 

«'  — to  be  located  in  the  city  of  Boston,  for  the  purpose  and  Avith 
the  power  and  authority  of  insuring  employers  of  labor  against 
losses  from  claims  of  their  employees  for  injuries  received  while 
in  their  service." 

Before  the  employers'  liability  bill  was  enacted, 
three  laws  were  passed  which  in  part  grew  out  of  the 
agitation,  and  were  used  to  help  postpone  the  main 
question,  till  the  corporations  finally  succumbed  to 
the  inevitable.  In  1882  (c.  244)  employees  of  rail- 
road and  steamboat  companies  were  authorized  to  form 
relief  societies.  In  1883  (c.  243)  railroad  companies 
were  made  liable  for  the  death  of  an  employee,  in  the 
exercise  of  due  care,  if  he  was  killed  under  such  cir- 
cumstances as  would  have  entitled  him,  if  death  had 
not  resulted,  to  maintain  an  action  for  damages.  In 
1886  (c.  125)  railroad  corporations  were  authorized 
to  join  relief  societies  with  their  employees.  The  idea 
was  that  thus  the  road  would  contribute  to  the  support 
of  injured  employees. 

In  1884  (c.  222)  railroad  corporations  were  required 
to  use  safety  couplers  on  freight  cars.  These  are  to 
be  tested  by  the  railroad  commissioners  (1886,  c.  242). 
In  1886  (c.  120)  such  corporations  were  required  to 


84  TEN   YEARS   OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

fill  or  block  the  frogs,  switches  and  guard  rails  on 
their  tracks,  so  that  the  feet  of  the  employees  might 
not  be  caught  in  them.  Instances  were  narrated  in 
which  men  walliing  backward  in  making  up  trains  had 
caught  their  feet  in  these  traps  and  had  been  killed 
before  they  could  extricate  themselves,  These  laws 
were  enacted  by  the  direct  effort  of  those  who  lu-ged 
the  labor  legislation  and  were  considered  among  their 
measures. 

Women  and  minors  in  mercantile  establishments 
have  been  the  subject  of  legislation  for  their  health, 
comfort  and  education.  Sympathy  for  women  and 
shop  girls  who  were  compelled  to  stand  for  hours 
behind  counters,  even  though  there  might  be  ample 
opportunity  to  sit,  thus  endangering  health  and  life 
by  the  prolonged  strain,  led  to  this  law  (1882,  c.  150), 
with  a  penalty  of  from  ten  to  thirty  dollars : 

"Every  person  or  corporation  employing  females  in  any  man- 
ufactm'ing,  mechanical  or  mercantile  establishment  in  this  Com- 
monwealth shall  jn'ovide  suitable  seats  for  the  use  of  the  females 
so  emiDloyed,  and  shall  permit  the  use  of  such  seats  by  them  when 
they  are  not  necessarily  engaged  in  the  active  duties  for  which 
they  ai'e  employed." 

The  proliibition  upon  employing  women  or  minors 
under  eighteen  years  over  ten  hours  a  day  in  manu- 
facturing estabhshments  was  extended  in  1883  (c.  157) 
to  mechanical  and  mercantile  establishments.  The 
same  subject  was  up  the  next  year  (1884,  c.  275)  and 


LABOE   LEGISLATION.  85 

it  was  enacted  that  no  minor  under  eighteen  years 
should  be  employed  in  laboring  in  any  mechanical 
establishment  more  than  sixty  houi's  in  any  one  week, 
under  penalty  of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars. 
Conspicuous  notices  of  the  hours  to  be  observed  must 
be  posted.  The  application  of  the  law  to  mercantile 
establishments  was  repealed  by  this  last  act. 

To  induce  employees  to  have  a  greater  interest  in 
their  employer's  business  and  to  give  them  a  share  of 
the  profits,  a  law  has  been  passed  (1886,  c.  209)  au- 
thorizing corporations  to  issue  special  stock  to  be  held 
by  their  employees  only.  The  par  value  of  a  share  is 
to  be  ten  dollars  to  be  paid  for  in  monthly  instalments 
of  one  dollar.  Proportional  dividends  are  to  be  al- 
lowed to  stock  fully  paid  for,  and  the  stock  cannot  be 
sold,  except  to  fellow  employees  or  to  the  corporation 
itself.  This  law  owes  its  existence  to  Mr.  Moseley  of 
Newburyport,  since  secretary  of  the  national  inter-state 
commerce  commission. 

The  regulation  of  convict  labor  has  in  recent  years 
been  a  fertile  issue  in  Massachusetts  with  "labor  legis- 
lators," but  the  conservative  element  has  for  the  most 
part  held  the  others  in  check.  In  1883  (c.  217)  the 
number  of  prisoners  who  could  be  employed  in  any 
prison  under  any  contract  was  limited  as  follows,  in 
order  that  "honest  labor"  in  the  same  industries  might 
not  suffer  by  competition : 


86  TEN   YEAES   OF  JVIASSACHUSETTS. 

" — in  the  manufacture  of  men's,  boj^s'  and  youths'  boots  and 
shoes,  not  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty ;  in  the  manufacture 
of  women's,  misses'  and  children's  boots  and  shoes,  not  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty ;  in  the  manufacture  of  hats,  not  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty ;  in  the  manufacture  of  bi-ushes,  not 
more  than  one  hundred  ;  in  the  manufacture  of  wood  mouldings, 
not  more  tlian  one  hundred ;  in  the  manufacture  of  harnesses, 
not  more  than  one  hundred ;  or  in  any  other  industry,  not  to  ex- 
ceed one  hundred  and  fifty." 

In  1887,  after  long  agitation  and  after  wide  re- 
searclies  by  tlie  committee  on  prisons,  a  bill  was  hur- 
riedly forced  tlirough  on  the  last  day  of  the  session 
(c.  4-17),  providing  in  much  detail  for  work  on  the 
state  account  system.  As  the  law  is  the  prospective 
(February,  1888)  object  of  repeal  or  great  modifica- 
tion, it  camiot  be  said  yet  to  embody  the  sense  of  the 
state. 

A  distinct  labor  enactment  was  that  (1887,  c.  263) 
"to  make  the  first  Monday  of  September,  known  as 
Labor's  holiday,  a  legal  holiday." 

Another  labor  law  of  the  same  session  (1887,  c.  272) 
allows  voters  employed  in  manufacturing,  mechanical 
or  mercantile  establLshments  two  hours  after  the  open- 
ing of  the  polls  in  wliich  to  vote.  Employers  -vdolat- 
ing  the  law  are  liable  to  a  fine  of  from  twenty  to  fifty 
dollars  for  each  offence. 

The  labor  wing  of  the  legislature,  helped  by  a  few 
from  the  other  side,  has  endeavored  to  pass  a  law  and 
has  come  very  near  it  by  which  the  state  shall  build 


LABOR   LEGISLATION.  87 

small  houses  for  laboring  people  to  cost  but  a  few  hun- 
dred dollars  each  and  to  be  paid  for,  principal  and  in- 
terest, in  small  sums.  The  chief  advocate  of  the  plan 
in  the  legislature  was  Mr.  Robert  Treat  Paine  in  1884 
and,  outside  of  the  legislature,  Mr.  John  M.  Berry,  who 
was  the  cliief  incorporator  of  the  Lynn  Workingmen's 
Aid  Association  (1880,  c.  195),  which  renders  such  aid 
to  men  of  small  means.  But  no  other  act  than  that  of 
1880  has  been  passed. 


88  TEN  YEAKS   OF  ISIASSACHUSETTS. 


BUSINESS  DEVELOPMENT. 

State  Bonds — Savings  Banks — Co-operative  Banks — Rail- 
roads— Insurance — Loan  and  Trust  Companies — Elec- 
tricity— Gas — Insolvency — Agriculture — Limited  Part- 
nerships— Payments  by  Instalments — Checks. 

If  one  looks  over  the  things  which  the  state  within 
the  ten  years  has  ordered  to  be  done,  he  will  notice 
that  a  large  proportion  of  them  relate  to  what  may  be 
called  its  business  and  financial  development.  In  other 
words,  the  state  is  proceeding  rapidly,  but  cautiously, 
to  make  it  easier  for  its  citizens  to  acquire  the  good 
things  of  life.  Though  the  broad  opportunities  are 
laid  down  in  the  constitution,  yet  the  detail  could  not 
be  foreseen  by  the  state  in  its  less  developed  condition, 
and  new  places  are  constantly  found  where  the  per- 
mission of  the  law  is  necessary  for  the  development 
of  new  lines  of  investment  for  capital,  for  the  promo- 
tion of  new  kinds  of  enterprises,  and  for  the  protection 
of  property  rights  from  new  dangers  which  are  found 
to  be  inherent  in  the  changes  continually  made  as  busi- 
ness adapts  itself  to  new  forms  and  circumstances. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  ten  years,  especially,  this 


BUSINESS  DEVELOPIVIENT.  89 

class  of  business  legislation  has  developed  rapidly, 
showing  that  the  capital  and  labor  of  the  state  are 
accumulating  an  increasing  amount  from  their  profits 
and  savings  with  which  to  enter  into  the  prod'.^ction 
of  other  things  for  health,  convenience  or  comfort. 
The  Blue  books  of  the  later  years  are  larger  than  ever 
before,  and  one  who  observes  their  contents  will  find 
that  the  growth  is  natural,  as  is  the  growth  of  that 
community  whose  enlarged  sphere  of  action,  extendin-g 
in  every  direction  from  the  center,  fuids  ever  before 
it  an  enlarging  sphere  of  opportunity.  This  develop- 
ment seems  to  be  healthful,  and  to  be  the  right  result 
of  enterprise  founded  in  reason,  pushed  with  vigor, 
and  backed  by  frugality  and  caution.  It  is  not  the 
unhealthy  product  of  trade  artificially  stimulated  by 
fictitious  rewards. 

In  taking  up  now  this  legislation  somewhat  in  detail 
by  classes,  to  indicate  the  development  of  the  state  in 
this  field,  there  may  be  put,  first  of  all,  a  declaration 
of  the  state  when  the  terrible  effects  of  the  long 
national  debauch  upon  paper  money  had  so  broken 
the  hopes  of  those  who  looked  for  a  speedy  recovery, 
that  many  were  demanding  a  return  to  the  cause  of 
their  suffering  as  a  remedy  for  their  pain.  Debts  were 
pressing.  The  years  of  retribution  had  been  long. 
Even  though  the  evil  was  in  way  of  recovery  and  the 
worst  had  passed,  yet  the  delusion  of  greenbackism 


90  TEN   YEAES   OF   ^MASSACHUSETTS. 

had  many  followers,  and  the  temptation  to  pay  the 
public  debt  in  depreciated  money  was  irresistible  to 
many.     Then  (1878,  c.  11)  the  state  declared: 

' '  The  interest  and  principal  of  all  scrip  or  bonds  of  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Massachusetts  are  payable,  and  Avhen  due,  shall  be 
paid  in  gold  coin  or  its  equivalent." 

That  was  the  good  faith  and  honor  of  Massachusetts 
under  temptation. 

Savings  Baxks. 

In  looking  at  what  the  state  has  done  for  the  benefit 
of  its  people  in  their  private  finances  directly,  the  care 
for  the  savings  bank  system  is  of  high  importance, 
for  it  relates  to  many  thousand  persons  and  to  the 
solid  prosperity  of  the  small  home-makers,  upon  whom 
rests  much  of  the  well-being  of  the  whole.  First  on 
the  hst  is  what  was  popularly  called  the  "stay  law" 
(1878,  c.  73),  which  gave  rise  to  ridicule  and  defama- 
tion from  outsiders,  though  it  was  wholly  different 
from  the  "stay  laws,"  with  which  it  was  invidiously 
compared.  It  was  near  the  end  of  the  financial  depres- 
sion, after  the  crash  of  1873,  though  not  so  near  but 
that  savings  banks  were  unable  to  realize  the  face  of 
their  loans  on  mortgaged  real  estate,  and  in  the  case 
of  at  least  one  Boston  bank,  an  excited  run  for  several 
days  had  blocked  the  street  with  alarmed  and  despond- 


BUSINESS   DE^^:LOPMENT.  91 

ent  depositors.  The  bank  weathered  the  storm,  but 
others  were  in  no  condition  to  meet  such  a  run. 
Under  such  pressure,  the  law  was  hastily  enacted,  like 
a  command  for  the  common  safety  of  a  boat-load  of 
people,  not  all  to  rush  to  one  side  at  once  and  capsize 
the  boat,  but  to  keep  their  places.  The  important 
section  is  in  full,  as  follows  : 

"  Whenever,  in  the  judgment  of  the  board  of  commissioners  of 
savings  banks,  the  security  and  welfare  of  the  depositors  in  any 
sa\ings  bank  in  this  Commonwealth  shall  require  a  limitation  or 
regulation  of  payments  to  its  depositors,  said  board  may,  by  an 
order  in  writing  directed  to  such  bank,  limit  and  regulate  such 
payments  in  time  and  amomit  as  the  interests  of  all  the  depositors 
may  require.  Such  order  shall  fully  express  the  terms  of  said 
limitation  or  regulation ;  and  it  may  be  changed  or  wholly  re- 
voked whenever  in  the  judgment  of  said  commissioners  the  wel- 
fare of  the  depositors  in  such  bank  shall  so  require." 

An  aggrieved  person  had  the  right  of  appeal  to  the 
supreme  judicial  court,  which  should  give  public  hear- 
ing upon  the  facts,  and  then  affirm  or  annul  the  order 
of  the  commissioners.  The  law  was  self-limited  to 
three  years.  It  produced  instantly  the  desired  effect 
of  preventing  runs,  and  thus  secured  to  depositors  full 
payment  of  their  deposits  which  they  might  otherwise 
have  lost. 

The  same  year  was  enacted  a  law  (1878,  c.  253)  to 
regulate  the  practices  of  receivers  of  savings  banks  for 
the  better  management  of  the  property  and  for  the 
protection  of  depositors.     By  law  of  1880  (c.  162),  the 


92  TEN   YEARS   OF   ]VIASSACHUSETTS. 

trustees  of  every  savings  bank  are  required  to  file  with 
the  savings  bank  commissioners  a  copy  of  the  bond  of 
their  treasurer,  and  every  treasurer  must  give  a  new 
bond  as  often  as  once  in  five  years  (1886,  c.  93).  In 
1881  (c.  214)  the  improved  financial  situation  giving 
new  opportunities  for  safe  investment,  the  strict  lim- 
itations upon  savings  banks  were  relaxed  so  that  they 
might  invest  in  the  safe  first  mortgage  bonds  of  any 
New  England  railroad,  or  in  notes  secured  by  such 
bonds.  Investments  in  public  funds  and  bank  stock 
were  also  given  a  wider  field,  but  still  were  much 
restricted.  That  the  public  may  know  who  are  re- 
sponsible for  investments,  it  has  been  enacted  (1883, 
c.  50)  that  the  names  of  the  boards  of  investment  in 
savings  banks  must  be  advertised  semi-annually  in  a 
newspaper  in  the  county,  the  first  time  to  be  within 
thirty  days  of  the  election  of  the  board. 

To  keep  savings  banks  from  too  close  connection 
with  other  banks,  warned  by  disastrous  examples,  no 
savings  bank  can  invest  or  hold  as  collateral  security 
(1882,  c.  224)  more  than  three  per  cent,  of  its  deposits 
in  any  state  or  national  bank,  nor  can  it  deposit  (1886, 
c.  95)  over  five  per  cent,  of  its  total  deposits  in  any 
one  national  bank,  or  trust  company,  or  to  an  amount 
over  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  capital  stock  and  sur- 
plus of  such  bank  or  company. 

It  was  further   enacted  in  the  same   spirit   (1884, 


BUSINESS  DEVELOPMENT.  93 

c.  253)  that  savings  banks  should  do  business  at  their 
banking  houses  only,  should  not  receive  or  pay  de- 
posits at  any  other  place,  and  the  house  must  be  in  the 
city  or  town  where  the  corporation  is. 

By  three  several  enactments  the  field  for  invest- 
ment has  been  gradually  enlarged  to  include  state 
bonds  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  INIichigan,  Illinois,  Indi- 
ana, Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  the  District  of  Columbia; 
also  the  municipal  bonds  of  any  city  in  those  states 
and  New  York  state  with  over  fifty  thousand  people 
and  not  over  five  per  cent,  net  debt,  or  any  notes 
secured  by  such  bonds  to  eighty  per  cent,  of  their 
face;  bonds  and  notes  of  incorporated  districts  in 
Massachusetts  with  not  over  five  per  cent,  net  debt; 
and  further  in  New  England  raikoad  securities.  A 
law  of  1887  (c.  423)  reduced  the  population  qualifi- 
cation mentioned  above  to  thirty  thousand.  By  act  of 
1886  (c.  69)  one  third  of  the  deposits  and  income  may 
be  invested  in  personal  securities,  not  to  run  over  a 
year,  with  two  sureties,  when  principal  and  sureties 
are  all  residents  and  citizens  of  the  state. 

To  add  to  the  safety  of  depositors,  no  borrower  on 
personal  security,  including  corporations  and  partner- 
ships, can  borrow  (1884,  c.  168)  over  five  per  cent,  of 
the  deposits  and  income.  In  1881  (c.  305)  the  tax  on 
savings  banks'  deposits  was  reduced  from  three-fourths 
to  one  half  of  one  per  cent. 


94  TEjSr   YEAES   OF   ISIASSACHUSETTS. 

Some  savings  banks  hold  a  large  amount  of  money 
in  the  names  of  depositors  who  have  not  been  heard 
from  for  a  long  time  and  probably  never  will  be  heard 
from  again.  To  provide  a  means  of  restoring  this 
money  to  the  owner  or  heirs,  if  possible,  a  law  was 
passed  in  1887  (c.  319),  Mr.  W^ker  of  Worcester  hav- 
ing more  to  do  with  its  passage  than  any  other  one 
member,  requiring  savings  banks  treasurers  to  report 
to  the  savings  bank  commissioners  sworn  statements  of 

"  — the  name,  the  amount  standing  to  his  credit,  the  last  known 
place  of  residence  or  post-office  address  and  the  fact  of  death,  if 
known  to  such  ti*easurer,  of  eveiy  depositor  who  shall  not  have 
made  a  dejiosit  therein  or  A^dthdrawn  therefrom  any  part  of  his 
deposit,  or  any  jiart  of  the  interest  thereon,  for  a  period  of  more 
than  twenty  yeai's  next  iireceding." 

Advertisement  of  these  particulars  is  to  be  made  by 
the  treasurers,  but  the  law  does  not  apply  to  depositors 
known  to  be  living,  nor  to  sums  under  twenty-five 
dollars. 

Development  of  the  sa\dngs  bank  S3'stem  continues 
and  banks  have  lately  been  established  by  special  law 
in  Warren  (1882),  South  Framingham  (1883),  Read- 
ing (1885),  Somerville  (1885),  Belmont  (1885),  the 
North  Middlesex  (1885),  Holyoke  (1885),  West  New- 
ton (1887)  and  Conway  (1887).  ^ 


business  develop]ment.  95 

Co-opeeati^t:  Banks, 

Co-operative  saving  fund  and  loan  associations,  as 
business  investments  for  men  of  small  means  and  as 
inducements  to  home  building,  have  received  care  in 
late  years  and  have  been  put  under  the  supervision  of 
the  savings  bank  commissioners  (1878,  c.  52)  who 
have  all  the  powers  over  them  that  they  do  over  sav- 
ings banks  C1879,  c.  129).  Regulation  of  the  manner 
of  distributing  profits  and  losses  is  made  (1881,  c.  271) 
and  also  the  method  of  paying  for  the  shares.  The 
name  of  the  associations  has  been  changed  to  "co-oper- 
ative banks"  (1885,  c.  121)  and  the  maintenance  of  a 
guaranty  fund  is  required.  Shares  may  be  issued 
(1887,  c.  216)  up  to  one  million  dollars.  The  method- 
of  withdrawing  unpledged  shares  and  of  shares  issued 
to  minors  is  regulated,  also  the  treatment  of  partial 
payments  of  loans  on  real  estate  and  the  retirement 
of  shares. 

Raileoad  Development. 

As  to  its  railroad  policy,  the  ten  years  have  seen  the 
state  abandon  its  holding  of  railroad  stocks  and  with- 
draw from  any  share  in  railroad  management  and  in- 
vestment as  far  as  possible.  It  has  sold  its  Boston  and 
Albany  stock,  its  New  York  and  New  England  stock, 


96  TEN   YEARS   OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

and  the  Hoosac  Tunnel,  with  its  accompanying  line  of 
over  forty  miles  of  track.  Each  of  these  transactions 
has  been  on  a  large  scale  and  each,  except  the  last, 
has  had  its  di'amatic  interest  in  a  marked  sensational 
event. 

The  development  of  railroad  law  has  not  been  exten- 
sive since  the  thorough  codification  in  1874.  In  order 
to  prevent  the  imperiling  of  property  by  projected 
railroads  and  to  limit  railroad  building  to  persons  of 
ability  and  good  faith,  it  was  enacted  (1878,  c.  215) 
that : 

"  No  railroad  corporation  shall  be  authorized  to  locate  or  con- 
struct its  road  or  any  branch  or  extension  thereof  or  to  enter  upon 
and  use  any  land  or  other  jiroperty  except  for  making  surveys, 
until  a  sworn  estimate  of  the  total  cost  of  constructing  the  same, 
prepared  by  the  chief  engineer  of  the  corporation  shall  have  been 
submitted  to  the  board  of  railroad  commissioners  and  approved 
by  them  ;  nor  until  it  shall  also  have  been  made  to  appear  to  the 
satisfaction  of  said  board  that  there  has  been  actually  subscribed 
by  responsible  parties,  without  any  condition  which  invalidates 
the  subscription,  an  amount  of  the  capital  stock  of  said  corpora- 
tion equal  to  at  least  fifty  per  centum  of  such  estimated  cost  of 
construction,  and  that  twenty  per  centum  of  the  par  value  of 
each  and  every  share  has  been  actually  paid  into  the  treasmy." 

It  was  further  enacted  (1882,  c.  265)  that  no  road 
shall  be  constructed  without  a  certificate  from  the  rail- 
road commissioners  that  the  public  convenience  and 
necessity  require  it,  and  the  articles  of  association  are 
to  be  void,  unless  the   certificate  of   incorporation  is 


BUSINESS  DEVELOPIVIENT.  97 

issued  witMn  one  year  from  the  time  the  route  is  fixed. 
No  steam  railroad,  or  part  of  one,  is  to  be  located 
within  three  miles  of  the  state  house  without  the  writ- 
ten consent  of  the  railroad  commissioners  and  of  the 
mayor  and  aldermen,  or  of  the  selectmen  where  the 
location  is  desired. 

Railroad  consolidation  has  progressed  greatly  during 
the  ten  years.  The  Worcester  and  Nashua  was  au- 
thorized (1883,  c.  129)  to  unite  with  the  Nashua  and 
Rochester.  The  Boston  and  Lowell  was  authorized 
(1886,  c.  278)  to  unite  with  the  Boston,  Concord  and 
Montreal  and  with  several  other  roads  to  the  north 
operated  by  it.  The  Lowell  road  has  leased  the  Cen- 
tral Massachusetts  and  then  leased  itself,  with  the 
Central,  to  the  Boston  and  Maine,  which  had  already 
leased  the  Eastern.  After  the  session  of  1887,  the 
Boston  and  Providence  was  leased  to  the  Old  Colony, 
leaving  the  act  to  be  passed  upon  by  the  legislature. 

By  act  of  1879  (c.  274)  fifteen  persons  or  more,  a 
majority  of  them  inhabitants  of  this  state,  may  form  a 
corporation  to  build  railroads  in  foreign  countries. 
This  was  passed  to  enable  Massachusetts  capitalists  to 
engage  in  railroad  builchng  in  Mexico,  which  was  then 
looked  upon  with  much  favor. 

For  the  benefit  of  fast  trains  and  for  the  safety  of 
travellers,  a  law  of  1885  (c.  85)  permits  the  establish- 
ment of  interlocking  or  automatic  signals  where  rail- 
7 


98  TEN  YEAES   OF   JMASSACHUSETTS. 

roads  cross  each  other  at  grade,  and  another  of  the 
same  year  (c.  194)  promotes  the  abolition  of  grade 
crossings  of  highways. 

Street  railway  development  may  be  briefly  noticed. 
After  a  persistent  struggle  for  years,  during  which 
several  schemes  for  elevated  roads  in  Boston  were  pre- 
sented as  rivals,  the  Meigs  Elevated  Railway  company 
was  chartered  (1884,  c.  87)  to  have  a  capital  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  a  mile  and  to  run  between 
Boston  and  Cambridge.  The  ingenious  invention 
which  was  thus  given  a  possibihty  of  life  is  the  work 
of  Captain  Joe  V.  Meigs,  and  to  him  the  enterprise 
owes  its  existence  in  the  face  of  discouraging  obstacles. 
But  beyond  building  an  experimental  track  in  Cam- 
bridge, it  had  made  no  construction  in  the  ten  years 
under  review. 

To  enable  street  railways  to  use  the  inventions  of 
the  times,  a  law  of  1886  (c.  337)  permits  the  use  of 
the  cable  system.  The  consolidation  of  the  street  rail- 
ways of  Boston,  permitted  by  act  of  1886  (c.  229),  but 
not  completed  till  after  the  passage  of  the  much-talked- 
about  West  End  Bill  of  1887  (c.  413),  is  to  be  noticed 
as  a  tendency  of  the  times  in  that  direction. 

To  prevent  discrimination  by  railroad  corporations 
in  freight  rates,  a  matter  which  has  since  had  the 
attention  of  the  interstate  commerce  commission,  a  law 
was  passed  in  1882  (c.  94)  that 


BUSINESS  DEVELOPIVIENT.  99 

"  No  railroad  corporation  shall  discriminate  in  charges  for  the 
transportation  of  freight  against  or  in  favor  of  any  person,  firm 
or  corporation,  or  demand  or  accept  from  any  person,  firm  or 
corporation  for  the  transportation  of  freight,  a  higher  or  lower 
rate,  or  demand  or  grant  terms  more  or  less  favorable,  tlian 
those  demanded  or  accepted  from  any  other  person,  firm  or 
corporation  for  like  service." 

But,  after  two  years  of  trial,  this  was  repealed  and 
superseded  by  the  following  modified  form  (1884, 
c.  225) : 

"No  railroad  company  shall  in  its  charges  for  the  transporta- 
tion of  freight  or  in  doing  its  freight  business  make  or  give  any 
undue  or  unreasonable  preference  or  advantage  to  or  in  favor 
of  any  person,  firm  or  coi-poration,  nor  subject  any  person,  fii-m 
or  corporation  to  any  undue  or  unreasonable  prejudice  or  dis- 
advantage." 

Even  earlier  than  this  the  matter  had  come  up,  and 
a  law  was  enacted  (1879,  c.  206)  to  prevent  discrimin- 
ation, but  it  related  to  milk  only,  and  grew  out  of 
difficulties  with  railroad  customers,  who  considered 
themselves  injui-ed  by  better  rates  given  to  rival  milk 
dealers. 

Insurance  Changes. 

The  body  of  insurance  legislation  in  the  ten  years 
has  been  large  and  important,  mostly  for  the  extension 
of  the  system,  at  the  same  time  with  added  protection 
to  the  insured.  Fire  insurance  companies  of  other 
states  have  been  given  added  powers  and  duties  in 


100  TEN  YEAES   OF  INIASSACHTJSETTS. 

Massachusetts  (1878,  c.  12) ;  the  dividends  of  joint- 
stock  fire,  marine  and  fire-marine  companies  of  the 
state  are  forbidden  (1878,  c.  35)  to  exceed  ten  per 
cent,  cash;  the  insurance  commissioner  is  to  be  the 
attorney  in  this  state  of  insurance  companies  of  other 
states  and  countries  (1878,  c.  36) ;  the  number,  extent 
and  origin  of  fires,  the  amount  of  damage  and  of 
insurance,  and  the  names  of  the  owners  or  occupants 
of  the  premises  must  be  sent  to  the  commissioner 
every  January  by  every  city  and  town  (1878,  c.  104) ; 
foreign  companies  cannot  do  business  in  the  state 
without  depositing  a  sum  equal  to  that  required  of 
state  companies  (1878,  c.  130) ;  fii'e  insurance  in  ex- 
cess of  "  the  fair  value  of  the  property  "  is  forbidden 
(1878,  c.  162)  ;  no  unlicensed  persons  or  associations 
can  engage  in  insurance  (1878,  c.  218)  ;  a  standard 
form  of  insurance  policy  has  been  estabhshed  (1880, 
c.  175,  and  1881,  c.  166)  ;  no  policy  of  life  or  endow- 
ment insurance  issued  by  a  state  company  can  become 
void  for  non-payment  of  premium  after  two  full  annual 
premiums  have  been  paid  (1880,  c.  232),  any  stipula- 
tion to  the  contrary  notwithstanding  (1881,  c.  63) ; 
re-insurance  cannot  be  effected  with  a  company  or 
individual  not  authorized  to  do  business  in  the  state 
(1883,  c.  33,  and  1881,  c.  120)  ;  a  change  in  the  form 
of  securities  deposited  may  be  made  (1883,  c.  107) ; 
foreign  fire  insurance  companies  are  given  an  option 


BUSINESS   DEVELOPMENT.  101 

(1884,  c.  58)  of  returning  their  foreign  business  in 
their  report  to  the  commissioner,  but  if  they  do  not 
return  it,  they  cannot  advertise  it  here ;  insurance 
directors  may  be  elected  by  classes  (1884,  c.  74),  so 
that  the  whole  board  cannot  be  changed  at  once ; 
marine  companies  may  insure  against  fire  and  light- 
ning (1884,  c.  177) ;  life  companies  must  not  discrim- 
inate against  persons  of  color  (1884,  c.  235) — a  law 
owing  its  existence  solely  to  the  effort  of  Mr.  Chap- 
pelle  of  Boston,  the  only  member  of  color  in  the  legis- 
lature that  year ;  citizens  may  be  licensed  to  procure 
fire  insurance  policies  in  companies  not  authorized  to 
transact  business  in  the  state  (1885,  c.  300) ;  mutual 
fire  insurance  companies  may  be  formed  with  a  sub- 
scription fund  of  from  two  hundred  thousand  to  one 
million  dollars  (1885,  c.  394) ;  Canada  has  been  added 
to  the  field  of  mutual  fire  insurance  companies  (1886, 
c.  222) ;  finally,  the  whole  body  of  insurance  law  has 
been  codified  (1887,  c.  217),  as  the  last  work  and 
monument  of  the  late  Commissioner  Tarbox. 

The  new  kinds  of  insurance  permitted  within  the 
state  by  laws  of  the  last  ten  years  are  fidelity  insurance 
(1881,  c.  51,  1884,  c.  296  and  1885,  c.  241),  and  real 
estate  title  insurance  (1884,  c.  180). 

A  rapid  growth  of  assessment  insurance  has  taken 
place  during  the  decade  and  annual  reports  are  re- 
quired of  such   companies   by  act  of   1880  (c.  196). 


102  TEN  YEAES   OF  INIASSACHUSETTS. 

Fraudulent  concerns  were  formed  which  imposed  upon 
the  public  and  the  entire  law  was  revised,  strengthened 
and  codified  in  1885  (c.  183).  The  formation  of  as- 
sessment associations  was  at  once  checked  and  the 
system  is  now  working  out  its  development  under  the 
protection  of  law  for  honest  dealing  with  the  insured. 

Loan  and  Trust  Cojmpaotes. 

A  noticeable  feature  of  recent  business  legislation 
is  the  incorporation  of  loan  and  trust  companies  whose 
incorporators  are  usually  moneyed  men  and  whose 
capital  is  large.  Each  of  these  companies  has  a  spe- 
cial charter  and  an  attempt  to  frame  a  general  law  was 
found  to  excite  so  much  opposition  and  to  be  so  im- 
practicable, as  the  companies  persuaded  the  legislature, 
that  it  was  abandoned.  The  tendency  to  form  com- 
panies of  this  sort  is  a  feature  of  the  times.  Tliere  are 
to  be  noticed  the  following  corporations  within  the  ten 
years:  the  International  Trust  company  (1879),  cap- 
ital, ai,000,000  to  $1,500,000 ;  the  American  Loan  and  ^ 
Trust  company  (1881),  capital,  $250,000  to  $1,000,000; 
the  Springfield  Safe  Deposit  and  Trust  company 
(1885),  capital,  $100,000  to  $500,000;  the  National 
Mortgage  and  Debenture  company  (1886),  capital, 
$500,000;  the  New  Beclford  Safe  Deposit  and  Trust 
company  (1887),  capital,   $100,000  to   $500,000;    the 


BUSINESS  DEVfiLOPMENT.  103 

B.  M.  C.  Durfee  Safe  Deposit  and  Trust  company  of 
FaU  River  (1887),  capital,  $100,000  to  $500,000;  the 
Bay  State  Trust  company  (1887),  capital,  1200,000  to 
$1,000,000 ;  the  Commonwealth  Safe  Deposit  and  Trust 
company  (1887),  capital,  $2,000,000  to  $10,000,000; 
the  Lynn  Safe  Deposit  and  Trust  company  (1887), 
capital,  $100,000  to  $300,000 ;  the  Boston  Water  Trust 
and  Investment  company  (1887),  capital,  $500,000; 
the  Manufacturers'  Loan  and  Trust  company  of  Hol- 
yoke  (1887),  capital,  $100,000  to  $500,000;  the  Suf- 
folk Trust  and  Investment  company  (1887),  capital, 
$100,000  to  $1,000,000 ;  and  the  Hampden  Loan  and 
Trust  company  of  Springfield  (1887),  capital,  $100,000 
to  $500,000. 

The  Field  of  Electricity. 

Regulation  of  telegraph  and  telephone  companies  is 
a  growing  feature  of  recent  legislation.  The  local 
authorities  are  given  power  (1880,  c.  83)  to  make 
reasonable  regulations  for  the  erection  and  mainte- 
nance of  wires  (including  telegraph,  telephone,  fire 
and  police)  and  the  erection  of  lines  may  be  prevented, 
or  lines  already  erected  may  be  removed  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  owner  or  contractor.  Lines  for  electric 
lights  are  put  under  the  same  rules  as  far  as  applicable 
(1883,  c.  221).     Putting  wires  upon  any  person's  prop- 


104  TEN  YEARS   OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

erty  without  his  consent  may  be  punished  by  one 
hundred  dollars'  fine  (1884,  c.  202).  Telephone  com- 
panies are  forbidden  (1885,  c.  267)  to  discriminate 
between  telegraph  companies.  This  grew  out  of  a 
complaint  by  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  telegraph  com- 
pany that  it  was  not  served  on  the  same  terms  as  the 
Western  Union.  To  prevent  the  aggrandizement  of 
the  American  Bell  Telephone  company,  it  was  forbid- 
den (1886,  c.  326)  to  hold  over  thirty  per  cent,  of  the 
capital  stock  of  any  subordinate  telephone  company. 
To  secure  greater  care  in  the  transmission  of  tele- 
graphic messages,  a  penalty  of  one  hundred  dollars 
may  be  imposed  (1885,  c.  380)  for  each  case  of  dam- 
ages up  to  that  amount,  actually  caused  by  negligence. 
New  inventions  for  lighting  and  heating  have  de- 
manded the  attention  of  the  law-makers.  In  1879 
(c.  202)  corporations  with  a  capital  of  from  five  thou- 
sand to  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  were  authorized 
to  be  formed  to  sell  gas,  steam  or  hot  water  for  light- 
ing, heating,  cooking  or  mechanical  power.  Gas  com- 
panies could  also  engage  in  the  business,  and  in  1885 
(c.  240)  a  law  authorized  the  formation  of  corporations 
to  supply  gas  for  heating,  cooking,  chemical  and  me- 
chanical uses.  By  law  of  1886  (c.  250)  the  gas  of 
every  company  with  over  fifty  consumers  must  be 
inspected  at  least  twice  a  year,  with  an  additional 
inspection  for  every  six  million  feet  of.  gas  furnished. 


BUSINESS   DEVELOPIMENT.  105 

In  1885  occurred  tlie  great  gas  contest  in  the  legisla- 
ture, resulting  in  a  law  (c.  314)  establishing  a  board 
of  gas  commissioners  and  practically  giving  every  es- 
tablished company  a  monopoly  in  the  city  or  town 
where  located.  This  course  of  public  policy  was  de- 
cided upon  on  the  ground  that  it  had  been  shown  by 
experience  that  competing  gas  companies  resulted 
ultimately,  by  consolidation  and  advance  of  prices  to 
make  up  the  losses  of  previous  competition,  in  more 
expense  to  the  people  than  a  single  company.  Ag- 
grieved consumers  may  appeal  to  the  commission, 
which  has  j)Ower  to  reduce  rates.  Great  power  is 
given  to  the  commission  and  further  regulations  are 
laid  down  in  the  law  of  the  following  year  (1886, 
0.  346),  one  of  which  is  that  "no  gas  company  shall 
transfer  its  franchise,  lease  its  works,  or  contract  with 
any  person,  association  or  corporation  to  carry  on  its 
works,  without  the  authority  of  the  legislature."  Gas 
companies  have  been  empowered  in  a  general  law 
(1887,  c.  385)  to  furnish  electric  light  and  the  board 
of  gas  commissioners  has  been  made  a  board  of  gas 
and  electric  light  commissioners. 

Miscellaneous  Mattees. 

The   insolvency  laws   have   been   changed  in  some 
detail  in  the  ten  years.     An  insolvent  debtor  may  be 


106  TEX  TEAES    OF   ]VIASSACHUSETTS. 

examined  under  oatli  (1881,  c.  235)  by  the  assignee  or 
by  any  creditor  before  a  judge  upon  all  matters  relat- 
ing to  his  insolvency  and  any  person  suspected  of 
fraudulent  connection  with  the  insolvency  may  be 
examined  in  like  manner.  Refusal  to  answer  is  pun- 
ishable by  imprisonment.  In  order  to  avoid  going 
through  the  regular  course  of  insolvency,  a  law  was 
enacted  in  1884  (c.  236)  to  pro\T.de  a  method  of  com- 
position in  insolvency,  with  full  provision  for  division 
of  the  assets  equitably  and  a  discharge  from  insolv- 
ency. The  course  of  proceeding  was  modified  in  1886 
(c.  353).  The  causes  wliich  shall  prevent  a  discharge 
from  insolvency  were  changed  and  restated  in  1886 
(c.  322).  An  act  of  1887  (c.  340)  con&ms  the  acts 
done  in  good  faith  in  a  voluntary  assignment  by  an 
insolvent  person,  notwithstanding  subsequent  insolv- 
ency proceedings  by  or  against  him. 

Farmers  and  their  pecuniary  interests  have  been  the 
subject  of  legislation  to  a  slight  degree.  Several  acts 
have  been  passed  to  control  contagious  diseases  among 
domestic  animals  and  they  were  codified  in  1887 
(c.  252).  Plantations  of  timber  trees  are  exempt  from 
taxation  (1878,  c.  131  and  1880,  c.  109),  but  this  was 
done  more  to  benefit  the  climate  of  the  state  by 
encouraging  forests  than  to  benefit  the  owners  of 
woodland.  Wanton  destruction  of  forest  by  fire  is 
punishable  (1882,  c.  163)  by  one  hundred  dollars'  fine 


BUSINESS   DEVELOPMENT.  107 

or  by  six  months'  imprisonment.  An  elaborate  bill 
for  the  preservation  of  forests  was  passed  in  1882 
(c.  255),  authorizing  towns  and  cities  to  make  appro- 
priations for  that  object,  empowering  the  state  board 
of  agriculture  to  act  as  a  state  board  of  forestry  and 
and  permitting  the  taking  of  land  for  forests  to  be  held 
as  public  domain.  Strict  regulations  have  been  made 
for  the  inspection  and  sale  of  commercial  fertilizers 
(1878,  c.  258). 

Some  miscellaneous  business  acts  are  of  interest  to 
show  certain  tendencies  or  oddities.  The  Boston  Lim- 
ited Partnership  company  of  1885  (c.  208)  was  formed 
to  loan  money  to  likely  young  men  to  give  them  a 
start  in  business,  and  the  company  was  to  be  a  limited 
partner  with  them.  By  act  of  1887  (c.  248)  a  limited 
partnership,  lawfully  succeeding  to  the  business  of  a 
firm,  may  use  the  firm's  name,  upon  consent  of  its 
members  or  of  their  legal  representatives. 

The  Board  of  Aid  to  Land  Ownership  (1878,  c.  148) 
was  a  half  business,  half  philanthropic  organization  to 
help  settlers  to  the  west,  somewhat  after  the  manner 
of  the  Rugby  settlement  in  Tennessee.  It  was  formed 
while  many  people  were  still  idle  who  would  have 
gone  west,  had  they  had  a  chance,  but  the  changed 
industrial  situation  soon  made  the  board  superfluous. 

Abuses  of  the  customers  of  those  who  sold  furniture 
and  other  articles  on  the  instalment  plan,  led  to  a  law 


108  TEN   YEARS   OF  ]VIASSACHUSETTS. 

(1884,  c.  313)  to  prevent  poor  people  with  small  busi- 
ness experience,  especially  women,  from  being  made 
the  victims  of  sharpers. 

Occasional  inconvenience  and  loss  was  the  cause  of 
the  law  of  1885  (c.  210)  authorizing  the  payment  of 
checks,  demand  drafts  and  savings  bani:  orders,  in  case 
of  the  death  of  the  drawer  before  payment,  without 
waitinof  for  the  settlement  of  the  estate. 


TEMPERANCE  LEGISLATION.  109 


TEMPERANCE  LEGISLATION. 

Sixth-class  License — Liquor  Transportation — Civil  Dam- 
age   Law — PCNISHMENT    FOR    DRUNKENNESS — ThE    SCREEN 

Law — Abuttor's  Objection — School-house  Law — Sure- 
ties— Sales  at  Night — Election  Days — Sales  Forbidden 
TO  Certain  Persons — Temperance  Text-books — Habitual 
Drunkards — Pigeon-holing  Appealed  Cases — Cigarettes 
— Liquor  Clubs — Riots — Common  Nuisance — Forfeiture 
of  License — Prima  Facie  Law — Druggists  and  Apothe- 
caries— Patent  Ballot  Boxes. 

Last  of  all,  in  our  view  of  the  growth  of  Massa- 
chusetts, we  come  to  a  development  of  public  morals 
which  is  worth  separate  notice  because  of  its  high 
importance — the  liquor  question.  It  is  associated  not 
only  with  morals,  but  with  public  administration,  with 
religion,  with  education,  with  society,  with  life  and 
health,  with  the  labor  question  and  with  the  business 
interests,  and  in  every  place  it  is  present  as  a  curse. 
It  comes  into  every  department  of  state  development, 
changing,  hindering  and  injuring  the  progress  of  the 
Commonwealth.  No  other  subject  approaches  it  in 
perennial  interest  in  the  legislature.  Other  matters 
rise  and  fall  in  apparent  importance,  but  liquor  meas- 
ures have  more  interest  for  the  members,  session  after 


110  TEN   YEARS   OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

session,  than  anytliing  else.  A  liquor  debate  is  sure 
of  attention.  Personal  sympathy,  in  opposition  or 
support,  is  always  excited  by  liquor  bills,  as  if  the 
members  had  themselves  something  to  gain  or  lose. 
Something  is  attempted  every  year,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  state  is  honest  in  its  determination  to 
restrict  liquor  selling  in  every  practicable  way.  If 
the  state  could  be  satisfied  that  prohibition  would  stop 
selling  better  than  the  local  option  law,  there  is  no 
doubt,  from  the  temper  of  successive  legislatures,  that 
prohibition  would  be  enacted. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  ten  years  the  local  option 
law  was  in  force  and  has  so  remained,  but  at  nearly 
every  point  where  it  has  seemed  possible  to  get  a  twist 
on  the  liquor  dealers,  the  screws  have  been  applied. 
Below  will  be  found  noted  the  several  steps  of  the 
state's  progress  in  fighting  the  liquor  business. 

In  1878  (c.  203)  was  established  a  new  class  of 
licenses,  the  sixth,  that  of  druggists  and  apothecaries 
"  to  sell  liquors  of  any  kind  for  medicinal,  mechanical 
and  chemical  purposes  only,  and  to  such  persons  only 
as  may  certify  in  writing  for  what  use  they  want  it ; " 
fee,  one  dollar.  Records  were  to  be  kept,  open  at  all 
times  to  official  inspection,  showing  the  date  of  pur- 
chase, the  name  and  residence  of  the  purchaser,  the 
kind  and  quality  of  the  liquor,  the  purpose  in  using 
it,  and  the  price. 


TEMPERANCE   LEGISLATION.  Ill 

The  same  year  (1878,  c.  207)  it  was  enacted  that 

"No  person  shall  bring  into  any  town  or  city  in  which  licenses 
are  not  gi-anted  any  spirituous  or  intoxicating  liquors,  with  intent 
to  sell  the  same  himself,  or  to  have  the  same  sold  by  another,  or 
having  reasonable  cause  to  believe  that  the  same  is  intended  to  be 
sold  in  violation  of  law." 

The  penalty  for  violation  was  forfeiture  of  the  liquor. 

In  1879  (c.  297)  came  the  so-called  "civil  damages" 
law,  which  was  stoutly  opposed  by  the  liquor  interests. 
It  says  that 

"Every  husband,  wife,  child,  pai-ent,  guardian,  employer,  or 
other  person,  who  shall  be  injured  in  person  or  propei'ty,  or 
means  of  supjsort,  by  any  intoxicated  person,  or  in  consequence 
of  the  intoxication,  habitual  or  otherwise,  of  any  person,  shall 
have  a  right  of  action  in  his  or  her  own  name,  sevei'ally  or  jointly, 
against  any  person  or  persons  who  shall,  by  selling  or  giving 
intoxicating  liquors,  have  caused  the  intoxication,  in  whole  or 
in  part  of  such  person ;  and  any  person  or  persons  owning, 
renting,  leasing,  or  permitting  the  occupation  of,  any  building  or 
premises,  and  having  knowledge  that  intoxicating  liquors  are  to 
be  sold  therein,  or  who,  having  leased  the  same  for  other  pur- 
poses, shall  knowingly  permit  therein  the  sale  of  any  intoxicating 
liquors,  shall,  if  any  such  liquors  sold  or  given  therein,  have 
caused,  in  whole  or  in  part,  the  intoxication  of  any  pei'son,  be 
liable  severally  or  jointly,  with  the  person  or  persons  selling  or 
giving  intoxicating  liquors  as  aforesaid,  for  all  damages  sustained, 
and  the  same  may  be  recovered  in  an  action  of  tort." 

The  owner  or  lessor,  paying  a  penalty  under  the 
act,  may  recover  it  from  the  tenant  under  action  of 
contract.     This  law,  however,  has  been  but  little  used. 

By  law  of  1880  (c.  221)  the  second  offence  of  drunk- 
enness was  made  punishable  by  one  dollar  fine  or  ten 


112  TEN  YEAES   OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

days'  imprisonment.  A  male  person,  convicted  of  a 
third  offence,  might  be  punished  by  ten  dollars'  fine 
or  a  year's  imprisonment.  Tliis  law  was  modified  in 
1881  (c.  276),  so  that  the  first  penalty  should  apply  to 
the  first  offence,  and  should  include  costs.  The  sec- 
ond offence  of  a  male  person  within  twelve  months 
was  made  punishable  by  five  dollars'  fine  and  costs,  or 
two  months'  imprisonment,  the  third  offence's  punish- 
ment remaining  the  same  as  before.  But  even  this 
policy  was  not  satisfactory,  and  in  1885  (c.  365)  the 
third  offence  was  made  punishable  by  sentence  to  the 
Concord  reformatory  for  from  one  to  two  years,  and 
the  first  offence  was  made  punishable  (1885,  c.  375) 
by  raising  the  fine  from  one  to  five  dollars  and  the 
imprisonment  from  ten  to  tliirty  days. 

Licenses  of  the  first  three  classes  (retailers')  must 
specify  (1880,  c.  239)  the  rooms  in  which  they  are 
to  be  exercised,  and  cannot  be  exercised  elsewhere. 
The  licensee  may  be  required  to  close  permanently  all 
entrances  to  the  licensed  premises,  except  from  the 
street  where  located,  under  penalty  of  forfeiting  the 
license.  A  free  view  of  the  premises  may  be  ordered 
— the  germ  of  the  screen  law.  Intoxicating  liquor  is 
to  include  all  with  over  three  per  cent,  in  volume  of 
alcohol  at  sixty  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

Conviction  of  illegal  sale  must  be  certified  (1880, 
c.  249)  to  the  board  issuing  the  license. 


TEMPEEANCE  LEGISLATION.  113 

In  1881  (c.  54)  the  law  for  taking  the  local  option 
vote  was  put  into  its  latest  form,  except  the  regulation 
of  the  size  and  typography  of  the  ballots  (1886,  c.  49). 

The  famous  screen  law  was  enacted  in  1881  (c.  225), 
and  the  essential  words  are  these : 

"And  no  such  licensed  person  shall  place  or  maintain,  or 
authorize  or  permit  to  be  placed  or  maintained,  upon  any  prem- 
ises used  by  him  for  the  sale  of  spirituous  or  intoxicating  liquors 
under  the  pi'ovisions  of  his  license,  any  screen,  blind,  shutter, 
curtain,  partition,  or  painted,  ground,  or  stained  glass  window, 
or  any  other  obstruction,  which  shall  interfere  with  a  view  of  the 
business  conducted  upon  the  premises.  jSTo  person  licensed  as 
aforesaid  shall  expose  in  any  window  upon  his  premises  any 
bottles  or  casks  or  other  vessels  containing,  or  purjiorting  to  con- 
tain, intoxicating  liquors,  in  such  way  as  to  interfere  with  a  view 
of  the  business  conducted  upon  the  premises." 

Putting  up  an  obstruction  voids  the  Kcense  (1882, 
c.  259). 

Following  this  (1881,  c.  226)  was  enacted  a  law 
making  the  buildings  used  by  liquor  clubs  in  no-license 
cities  and  towns  common  nuisances. 

The  next  restriction  on  the  trade  was  to  require 
all  applications  for  a  license  to  be  advertised  (1881, 
c.  255),  so  that  the  abuttors  might  be  informed,  and 
objection  made,  if  desired.  If  the  owner  of  adjoining 
real  estate  objected  within  ten  days,  the  license  could 
not  be  granted.  This  "abuttor's  objection"  law  was 
evaded  afterward  in  some  cases  by  selling  a  strip  of 
land  a  few  inches  wide  to  some  friend  of  the  liquor 


114  TEN  YEAES   OF  JVIASSACHTJSETTS. 

seller,  so  that  tlie  objector  was  no  longer  an  abuttor. 
This  trick  was  met  in  1887  (c.  323)  by  extending  the 
right  of  objection  so  as  to  cover  twenty-five  feet  on 
each  side  of  the  property. 

The  "four  hundred  feet"  law — that  no  retailer's 
license  shall  be  granted  for  liquor  selling  within  four 
hundred  feet,  on  the  same  street,  of  a  building  used  in 
whole  or  in  part  for  a  public  school — was  enacted  in 
1882  (c.  220),  and  was  at  once  enforced  amid  much 
interest,  particularly  in  Bostbn. 

Official  inspection  and  analysis  of  liquor  is  provided 
for  in  detail  (1882,  c.  221).  Common  victuallers  must 
close  their  premises  (1882,  c.  242)  between  midnight 
and  five  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

No  surety  on  the  bond  of  a  Hcensee  can  be  accepted 
who  is  not  worth  at  least  two  thousand  dollars  over  all 
liabihties  (1882,  c.  259). 

Sale  or  delivery  of  liquor  to  a  person  who  has  re- 
ceived public  charity  within  the  twelve  months  next 
preceding  the  date  of  the  license  is  forbidden  (1884, 
c.  158). 

The  hours  in  which  liquor  selling  is  prohibited  to 
licensed  persons  have  been  lengthened  (1885,  c.  90), 
so  that  the  period  of  closed  doors  is  from  eleven  P.  M. 
to  six  A.M.,  instead  of  from  midnight  to  six  o'clock. 
This  act  was  fought  stubbornly  on  the  ground  that  the 
hour  next  before  midnight  was  one  of  the  most  profit- 


tempebajStce  legislation.  115 

able,  and  tliat  the  saloons  were  then  most  patronized, 
especially  in  Boston.  But  the  legislature  held  to  the 
argument  that  by  that  time  of  night  most  people  ought 
to  be  in  bed. 

The  sale  or  delivery  of  liquor  on  election  days  is 
prohibited  to  common  victuallers  and  to  innholders, 
except  to  registered  guests,  under  fifty  dollars'  penalty 
(1885,  c.  216).  This  was  done  to  prevent  the  pres- 
ence of  an  unusual  number  of  intoxicated  men  on  the 
streets  on  election  days,  which  had  become  a  scandal, 
especially  in  Boston. 

To  prevent  liquor-selling  to  a  person  with  the  liquor 
habit,  written  notice,  signed  by  the  mayor  or  select- 
men, may  be  given  to  any  seller,  forbidding  any  sale 
to  the  person  named  in  the  notice,  and  if  liquor  is  sold 
to  that  person  within  twelve  months,  the  mayor  or 
selectmen  may  bring  suit  for  damages  for  from  one 
hundred  to  five  hundred  dollars  (1885,  c.  282). 

The  temperance  text-book  law  (1885,  c.  332)  is  as 
follows : 

"Physiology  and  hyj^iene,  which,  in  both  divisions  of  the  sub- 
ject, shall  include  special  instruction  as  to  the  effects  of  alcoholic 
drinks,  stimulants  and  narcotics  on  the  human  system,  shall  be 
taught  as  a  regular  branch  of  study  to  all  pupils  in  all  schools 
supported  wholly  or  in  part  by  public  money,  excejit  special 
schools  maintained  solely  for  instruction  in  particular  branches, 
such  as  drawing,  mechanics,  art,  and  like  studies.  All  acts  or 
parts  of  acts  relating  to  the  qualifications  of  teachers  in  the  public 
schools  shall  apply  to  the  branch  of  study  prescribed  in  this  act." 


116  TE]S"  TEAT.S   OF  ]MASSACHIISETTS. 

Any  habitual  drunkard  may  be  committed  to  a  state 
lunatic  hospital  (1885,  c.  339),  and  not  be  released 
"  unless  it  appears  probable  that  he  will  not  continue 
to  be  subject  to  clipsomania  or  habitual  drunkenness, 
or  that  his  confinement  therein  is  not  longer  necessary 
for  the  safety  of  the  public  or  for  his  own  welfare." 

Much  dissatisfaction  was  felt  for  years  because  ap- 
pealed liquor  cases  were  not  tried,  especially  in  Boston, 
but  that  they  were  "  pigeonholed "  by  the  district 
attorney.  A  law  was  passed  to  prevent  this  (1885, 
c.  359),  and  though  efforts  to  repeal  it  were  made  in 
both  1886  and  1887,  they  failed.  The  law  was  that  no 
hquor  case  should  be  "placed  on  file  or  disposed  of, 
except  by  trial  and  judgment  according  to  the  regular 
course  of  proceedings  in  criminal  cases,  unless  in  any 
case  the  purposes  of  justice  require  other  disposition 
thereof." 

The  "cigarette  law"  was  passed  in  1886  (c.  72), 
when  but  Httle  liquor  legislation  was  enacted,  thus : 

"  No  person  shall  sell  any  cigarette,  snuff  or  tobacco  in  any  of 
its  forms  to  any  i^erson  under  sixteen  years  of  age.  No  person 
other  tlian  the  minor's  parent  or  guardian  shall  give  any  cigar- 
ette, snuff  or  tobacco  in  any  of  its  forms  to  any  minor  under  six- 
teen years  of  age." 

Penalty,  fifty  dollars.     So  far  as  appears,  the  law  has 
been  left  to  enforce  itself. 

In  1887  more  interest  than  ever  was  shown  in  liquor 


TEMPERANCE  LEGISLATION.  117 

legislation,  and  though  the  prohibitory  constitutional 
amendment  was  defeated,  yet  material  addition  was 
made  to  the  restrictive  liquor  laws.  Unlicensed  sell- 
ing, distributing  or  dispensing  intoxicating  liquors  by 
clubs,  is  prohibited  (1887,  c.  206),  except  by  such  as 
do  not  appear  to  be  organized  for  the  liquor  business 
and  are  duly  licensed.  This  device  of  clubs  as  a  means 
of  evading  the  license  law  had  particular  development 
in  some  of  the  cities. 

A  consequence  of  the  public  disturbances  during 
the  Cambridge  horse-car  strike  was  the  law  (1887, 
c.  365),  passed  upon  recommendation  by  Gov.  Ames 
in  a  special  message,  empowering  the  local  authorities 
in  all  places  to  close  all  retailers'  establishments  in 
cases  of  riot  or  great  public  excitem^ent,  for  not  over 
three  days  at  any  one  time,  the  penalty  of  keeping 
open  to  be  two  hundred  dollars'  fine  and  forfeiture  of 
the  license. 

Much  is  expected  of  the  following  law  (1887,  c.  380), 
which  puts  it  in  the  power  of  ten  men  to  close  a  saloon, 
without  a  trial  and  without  that  trouble  with  a  jury 
which  has  so  often  been  found  a  serious  obstacle  to  the 
enforcement  of  the  liquor  laws : 

"The  supreme  judicial  coui-t  and  superior  court  shall  have 
jurisdiction  in  equity  upon  information  filed  by  the  district  attor- 
ney for  tlie  district  or  upon  the  petition  of  not  less  than  ten  lei^al 
voters  of  any  town  or  city  setting  forth  the  fact  that  any  building, 
place  or  tenement  therein  is  resorted  to  for  prostitution,  lewdness 


118  TEX  YZAES  OF  :massacht:setts. 

or  illegal  gaming,  or  is  used  for  the  illegal  keeping  or  sale  of 
intoxicating  liquors,  to  restrain,  enjoin  or  abate  the  same  as  a 
common  nuisance,  and  an  injunction  for  such  pui'pose  mar  be 
issued  by  any  justice  of  either  of  said  coiu'ts."' 

Another  screw  on  the  liquor  sellers  is  the  law  (1887, 
c.  392)  that  conviction  of  -s-iolating  any  part  of  the 
liquor  code  shall  make  void  the  license. 

In  the  case  of  illegal  selling,  all  the  implements  and 
furnitui-e  may  be  seized  (1887,  c.  406),  as  well  as  the 
liquor  itself. 

The  -prima  facie"  law  (1887,  c.  411)  is  intended  to 
facilitate  con%'ictions  by  making  to  be  prima  facie  evi- 
dence of  sales  the  exposing  of  any  placard,  sign  or 
advertisement  (except  in  a  di'ug  store),  or  of  a  United 
States  tax  receipt  as  dealer  in  spirituous  or  intoxicat- 
ing liquors,  other  than  malt  liquors. 

To  check  illegal  selling  bv  retail  druggists  and 
apothecaries,  such  persons  are  to  be  allowed  only  a 
sixth-class  license  (1887,  c.  431),  or  a  license  for  medic- 
inal, mechanical  or  chemical  purposes  only,  and  they 
are  put  under  close  restrictions  as  to  keeping  records 
of  sales. 

The  final  liquor  law  of  the  session  of  1887  was  that 
(c.  443)  to  require  the  use  of  self -registering  and  self- 
cancelling  ballot  boxes  in  voting  on  the  issue  of  liquor 
licenses  under  the  local  option  law.  This  was  in 
accord  with  a  special  message  of  Gov.  Ames.  The 
most  important  laws  of  the  year  are  largely  creditable 


TEMPERANCE   LEGISLATION.  119 

to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Darling  of  Somorvillc,  liouse 
chairman  of  the  litjuo)'  law  committee,  upon  whom  fell 
the  brunt  of  the  contest.  The  house  stood  well  ))y  the 
committee,  and  otlier  restrictive  measnr(;s,  notahly  the 
bill  to  prevent  liquor  selling  in  tenement  houses  and 
"kitchen  dives"  w^ere  passed  by  it,  but  only  to  be 
defeated  in  the  senate. 


120  TEN  YEAES   OF  MASSACHITSETTS. 


THE  SUM  OF  IT  ALL. 

The  sum  of  it  all  is  that  the  state  has  made  material 
and  manifest  progress  in  the  ten  years.  It  is  a  better 
state  than  it  was  ten  years  ago.  It  has  a  keener  per- 
ception of  injustice  to  those  who  fail  to  secure  justice, 
and  a  stronger  purpose  to  redress  wrongs  done  to  its 
citizens,  either  by  the  working  of  civil  forces  or  by  the 
direct  deeds  of  other  citizens.  The  state  is  on  a  higher 
level  than  it  was  ten  years  ago,  and  the  steps  by  which 
it  has  mounted  are  to  be  found  in  its  laws.  It  is 
inspired  by  a  stronger  public  virtue,  and  advances  with 
a  larger  intelligence.  If  this  seems  to  our  friends  in 
national  union  to  be  saying  too  much,  it  yet  remains 
that  at  least  the  same  public  virtue  and  the  same 
intelligence  have  secured  a  material  addition  to  the 
rights  and  to  the  privileges  of  the  large  body  of  the 
people. 

But  the  advance  of  the  state  is  opposed  and  threat- 
ened at  every  step.  Not  only  has  it  to  meet  the  dis- 
integrating forces  of  vice  and  ignorance,  which  are 
ever  old,  yet  ever  new,  but  it  has  also  to  face  e\dls 
wholly  new,  growing  out  of  the  changes  in  its  condi- 


THE   SIBI   OF   IT  AX,L.  121 

tion.  The  population  of  Massachusetts  is  becoming 
dense.  Half  of  its  people  are  in  its  cities,  and  the 
strength  of  the  cities  is  from  the  country.  Yet  the 
proportion  of  the  state  which  consumes  men  is  con- 
stantly becoming  larger,  while  the  proportion  which 
furnishes  them  for  consumption  is  constantly  becom- 
ing smaller.  Immigration  does  not  check,  but  aggra- 
vates the  evil,  and  the  question  is  whether  the  supply 
among  the  hills  of  the  other  New  England  states  can 
satisfy  the  demand.  The  boys  and  girls  of  the  state 
who  grow  up  in  cities,  strangers  to  the  freedom  and 
strength  of  country  life,  without  opportunity  to  work, 
save  in  the  hotbeds  of  the  public  schools,  and  without 
scope  to  develop  that  self-reliance  which  is  a  second 
nature  to  those  who  must  help  themselves  or  go  with- 
out, are  constantly  becoming  a  larger  proportion  of  the 
whole. 

Social  and  business  conditions  are  changing  with 
the  growing  density  of  population  and  with  the  new 
industrial  situation.  Large  establishments  are  increas- 
ing. Small  enterprises  are  crushed  or  smothered  by 
large  ones.  Aggregation  of  capital  and  concentration 
of  labor  are  the  rule.  Men  capable,  under  the  old 
system,  of  making  a  sufficient  competence,  are  forced 
by  the  iron  laws  of  trade  to  take  subordinate  positions 
in  these  large  establishments  where  they  have  no  plans 
of  their  own  to  make,  no  field  of  their  own  to  develop, 


122  TEX   YEARS   OF   INIASSACHUSETTS. 

no  enterprise  of  their  own  to  push  to  success,  but  only 
to  do  as  best  they  may  the  will  of  their  employer. 
As  continual  giving  of  charity  to  the  poor  tends  to 
make  them  lean  habitually  upon  others,  to  the  loss  of 
their  own  power  of  seH-support,  so  this  dependence  of 
increasing  numbers  of  capable  men  upon  the  will  of  a 
few  tends  to  pauperize  that  spmt  of  manly  independ- 
ence which  has  been  the  strength  of  the  state  in  the 
past.  As  self-government  in  local  affairs,  free  from 
interference  by  the  central  authority,  tends  to  the  per- 
manent well-being  of  the  whole,  so  the  management  of 
his  own  affairs  by  the  individual  man  tends  to  make 
the  most  of  him.  Massachusetts  helps  to  local  self- 
government  in  towns,  but  her  business  development 
tends  to  increase  the  ranks  of  the  salaried  men  and  to 
reduce  the  number  of  employers  to  the  heads  of  a 
comparatively  few  great  concerns.  It  is  the  resistless 
tendency  of  the  times. 

With  these  dangers  to  its  children  and  to  its  adults, 
it  promises  to  be  in  the  future  the  chief  concern  and 
pressing  problem  of  the  state  how  to  raise  men. 


INDEX. 


A. 

PAGE 

Abandoned  children 36,  58 

Abuttor's  objection 113 

Accidents,  railroad 66 

Accidents  to  employees 74 

Accounts,  county 24 

Adulterations 60 

Amendments,  constitutional. ...      9 

Ames,  Oliver 117, 118 

Analysis  of  liquor 114 

Apparatus,  school 53 

Appealed  liquor  cases 116 

Arbiti-ation 78 

B. 

BaU 23 

Ballot  boxes 12 

Ballot  regulations 13 

Ballots,  counterfeiting 14 

Bartlett,  Fred'k,  C.  S 28 

Beet  sugar  bounty 26 

Beny,  John  M 87 

Bets 45 

Birds  and  game 28 

Boilers,  locomotive 66 

Boston,  debt  limit 25 

Brackett,  John  Q.  A 20 

Bridges,  highway 67 

Bridges,  railroad 66 

Buildings,  construction 68 

Burdett,  Joseph  0 30 

Burials 71 

Butter,  imitation 62,  63 

C. 

Car  stoves 66 

Change  of  venue 22 

Chappelle,  J.  C 101 


PAGE 

Charitable  association  s 59 

Check  list 15 

Children,  abandoned 58 

Children  at  amusements 48 

Children  in  factories 55 

Children  in  theatres 70 

Children,  neglected 35,  36 

Churches,  Congregational 41 

Churches,  Koman  Catholic ■  42 

Cigarettes  116 

Cities,  new 33 

City  debts 25,  26 

Civil  damages  law Ill 

Civil  service 29 

Claims 32 

Clark  univex'sity 54 

Clubs,  liquor 113, 117 

Coffin,  Charles  Carleton 20 

Colorblindness 65 

Colored  persons 33 

Combustibles 67 

Commissions 28 

Common  nuisance  law ■  117 

Common  victuallers 114 

Concord  reformatory 38 

Constitutional  amendments 9 

Contagious  diseases 69 

Controller,  county  accounts 24 

Convict  labor 85 

Co-operative  banks 9.) 

Counterfeiting  ballots 14 

County  accounts 31 

Courts,  district 21 

Courts,  inferior 21 

Courts,  police 21 

Court,  superior,  claims 32 

Co\irt,  superior,  enlarged 22 

Court,  superior.  Jurisdiction 22 

Cremation 71 

123 


124 


rSDEX. 


PAGE 

Criminals,  habiraal :23 

Crossings,  railroad 68,97 

Ciuuulative  sentences 40 

D. 

Ihtugreroxis  weapons 7V> 

Parling,  Samuel  C lll> 

Debts  of  dties 35,  26 

Pefaeing  voting  lists t    16 

Pefoiined  persons 47 

Plokinsou,  John  W 50 

Pisohargetl  eonvicis Si> 

Dist^ases,  contagious 6^ 

Pisorimination,  railroad 9<: 

Distriel  courts 21 

Pistrict  police IS 

Divorced  persons 57 

Pivorces,  fraudulent 4ii 

Pivorces,  jurisdiction *J 

Pivorces,  statistics 49 

Domestic  animals 106 

PouWe  taxation 24 

Prugs,  adulterated 61 

Prunkeimess Hi 

E. 

Election  sermon 4S 

Elections,  good  order  at 14 

Elections,  liquor  at  115 

Electric  bells 74 

Electrical  inventions 1(8,  IW 

Electric  light  commission 29 

Elevated  roads £*? 

El  evators 69 

Employer's  liability SI 

Ecmity  jurisdiction 21 

Evening  scliools 53 

Exemption,  soldiers' S2 

Experiment  station 25 

Explo^Tes 67 

F. 

Factory  inspectors 1^  76 

».n.  Charles  G 81 

F:ill  River  water  case 2S 

Fines,  imperftet  weaving 76 


PAGE 

Fires  In  workshops 73 

Fire  regulations s* 

Forests 27,  li\> 

Fonmilings. 35 

Free  text-books, 53 

Frogs  and  switches S4 

Fund,  school 50 

Furniture,  by  instalments 107 

G. 

Gagtnpiisons 39 

Game 35 

Gaming 46 

Gas  comi>anies 104,103 

GitY  enterprises 46 

Gifts  to  wives 57 

Gold  paj-ments SO 

Grade  crossiogs 66,97 

H. 

Habitual  criminals. 2S 

Habinwl  lirunkaivis 116 

H.-uid  tools 5S 

H.HStings,  Thomas  J 24 

Homes  for  laboring  people 87 

Hoosac  Tunnel  line 95 

Hotels,  fire  regulations es 

I. 

Ice.  impure 64 

Illiterate  minors. 55 

Illustrated  papers. 47 

Imperfect  weaving ..    78 

Imprison  ment,  re^luction S7 

Indecent  language 46 

Industrial  training 53 

Insane,  the S4 

Insolvency 106 

Instruction,  religious ti 

Insiurance 100,101 

J. 

Jail  discipline 89 

JefiWes,  Dr.  B,  Joy 65 


INDEX. 


125 


PAGE 

Jurisdiction  of  Inferior  courts ...    21 

Jurisdiction  in  equity -21 

Juvenile  offenders 35 

K. 
Knights  of  Labor 72 

L. 

Labor  day 86 

Land  ownership,  board 107 

Lard 62 

Liability,  employers' 81 

Liability,  insurance 83 

Liability,  railroads 83 

Liability,  street  railwaj'S 67 

Libraries 55 

License,  retailers' 112 

License,  sixth-class 110, 118 

License  voided 118 

Liquor  sales  forbidden 115 

Liquor  seizures 118 

Lists,  voting 16 

Loan  and  Trust  Companies 102 

Local  option  law 113 

Lotteries 46 

M. 

Manual  Training 53 

Manufactories 72 

Manufactories,  census  of 26 

Manufactories,  childi-en  in 55 

Manufactories,     women     and )  j^, 

minors j 

Manufactories,  voters 86 

Matrons,  police 40 

Meal  hours 75 

Meigs,  Joe  V 98 

Memorial  day 33 

Metropolitan  police 19 

Midnight  liquor  law Hi 

Militia 32 

Milk,  adulterated 61 

Minors  and  women 84 

Minors,  illiterate 55 

Missiles  thrown 67 

Moseley,  Edward  A 85 


PAGE 

Mufflers 70 

Municipal  courts 21 

N. 

Naphtha 68 

Naturalization 15 

Neglected  children 35, 36 

New  cities 33 

New  towns 33 

O. 

Obscene  pai;ers 47 

Obstruction  to  officers 48 

Officer,  probation 37 

Oleomargarine 63 

Opium  joints 47 

Order  atelections 14 

Orphans 36 

p 

Paine,  Robert  Trea* 87 

Parks 34 

Parocliial  schools 51 

Paitnersliips 107 

Pauper  children 35 

Pauper  veterans 9 

Petroleum 67 

Physical  training 52 

Pigeon  shooting 45 

Poisons 70 

Police  courts 21 

Police,  district 18 

Police  in  towns 20 

Police  matrons 40 

Police,  metropolitan 19 

Police,  steamboat 20 

Pools 45 

Ponds,  great 28 

Precinct  voting 9, 16 

Prima  facie  law 118 

Private  schools 51 

Probalion  officer 37 

Probation  system 38 

Q. 

Quincy,  Josiah 74 


126 


INDEX. 


R 

PAGE 

Race  distinctions 33 

Railroad  accidents 66 

Railroad  consolidation 97 

Railroad  development 05 

Railroads,  foreign 97 

Bailroads,  new fK) 

Randall,  CharlesL 20 

Reading-rooms 55 

Reduction  of  imprisonment 37 

Refonnatory ,  Concord 38 

Reformatory,  Sherbom 37 

Registration  of  voters 10-12 

Relief  societies 83 

Religious  instruction 43 

Religious  societies 43 

Returns  of  votes 15 

Riots,  saloons  in 117 

Rousing  bells 73 

S. 

Safety  couplers 83 

Sanitary  measures 74 

Savings  banks 90 

School  apparatus 53 

School  districts 51 

School  fund 50 

School  information 52 

Schools,  evening 52 

School-house  law 114 

Schools,  physical  training 52 

Schools,  private 51 

School  suflfrage 17 

School  teachers'  tenure 54 

Screen  law 113 

Sentences,  cumulative 40 

Sherbom  reformatorj^ 37 

Smoking 40 

Societies,  relief 83 

Societies,  religious 43 

Soldiers'  exemption 32 

Speaking  tubes 74 

Stage  coach  companies 67 

Steamboat  companies 67 

"  Stickers  " 15 

Stock,  special 85 


PAGE 

Stoves,  car 66 

Street  railways 98 

Street  railwaj's'  liability 67 

Streets  and  parks 34 

Suffrage,  woman 16 

Sunday  law 43 

Superior  court 22,  32 

Sureties 22,115 


Taxation,  double 24 

Tenements,  fire  reg^ulations 68 

Tenure  of  teachers 54 

Text-books,  free 53 

Text-books,  temperance , 115 

Thayer,  S.  Proctor 30 

Theatrical  exhibitions 70 

Towns,  new 33 

Toy  pistols 70 

Tramps  58 

Truancy 54 

Trustees,  churches,  etc 43 


Venue,  change  of 22 

Vinegar 65 

Voters  in  boarding  houses 15 

Voters  in  certain  establishments.    86 

Voters,  naturalization 15 

Voters,  registration 10-12 

Votes,  re-counts 15,  IC 

Votes,  returns  of 15 

Voting,  illegal 13 

Voting  lists 16 

Voting  precincts 9, 16 


w. 

Wagers 45 

WalkLi,  iJoett>b-B Si- 
Water,  returns  of 64 

Water  supplies 64 


INDEX. 


127 


PAGE 

Weapons,  dangerous 70 

Weaving,  imperfect 76 

Weekly  payments 76 

Whistles,  locomotive 70 

Wives,  gifts  to 57 

Woman  suffrage 16 

Women  as  lawyers 57 

Women  and  minors 84 

Women  on  probation 38 


PAGE 

Wooden  flues 69 

Woodland 27 

WorJvshops,  sanitary  condition.. .    74 


Young  persons  at  amusements. . 
Young  persons  in  court 


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